Turnabout Trickery
by Jess-a-men
Summary: The Sequel to Turnabout Zitraine - a criminal is at large and seems to have picked a very specific type of victim… a type of victim quite dear to Phoenix and his Friends. Piece by piece, a suspect is discovered, but like a house of cards their theories are blown over time and time again. Who can be trusted, who might be lying?
1. Chapter 1

January 17, 10:49 AM

District Court

Courtroom No. 3

x

"OBJECTION!"

Phoenix' voice rang out as he pointed towards Klavier, eyes piercing both the prosecutor and the witness looking back and forth between them. "That's completely impossible! The witness couldn't possibly have seen the moment of the murder, because the mirror was in the way! Look at the diagram!"

"OBJECTION! Herr Wright, please. So the witness was standing three feet to the right. What does that prove?"

"OBJECTION! Not to the right, Mr. Gavin! To the left, as is proven by the pencil which fell from their pencil case! The witness was standing three feet to the left! So! In that case... it should have been impossible for them to reach the pot-holder! How do you explain _that_, Mr. Gavin!?"

"O...OBJECTION! That's... that's just dumb!"

"Oh really?! Well, I think it proves my point!"

He was in heaven right now. How... _how_ had he managed to survive without a badge? Had it been the thought of revenge, the desire to uncover the truth behind his disbarment? He couldn't even remember. All he knew that he needed courtroom air to be able to survive. The sound of hands hitting tables, the sight of a sweating witness trying and failing to keep up a lie, the look of absolute disbelief on the prosecutor's face, it was plain-out perfect.

"OBJECTION! The witness still had the broomstick with them! They could have used that to reach the pot-holder!"

"HOLD IT! There were no fingerprints found on the broomstick! You yourself proved that, Mr. Gavin!"

No response. This was wonderful, this was life! The mumbling of the audience, the evidence rattling in his bag, the banging of the gavel, the calls for order. And then, after just a few more minutes, the final OBJECTION and the verdict and the rain of confetti which always just kind of happened. From the other side of the courtroom, Mr. Gavin gave him a sheepish grin.

"Ach, looks like you were right again, Herr Wright. My bad, ja?"

Phoenix just shrugged. "Nah, it's not your fault. You couldn't have known about the strawberries."

"True, but I feel stupid for it nonetheless. Do you want a copy of my files for your archive, Herr Wright?"

That offer took him by surprise. "Uh... sure, thanks." One of the many benefits of going up against Klavier Gavin, apparently. The man was just so... nice. It had been a pretty embarassing investigation, in fact, because Phoenix had - like always - decided to check out the crime scene despite not being authorized to do so. But when Mr. Gavin had caught him - in the middle of dusting that broom for fingerprints, mind you - he'd just gotten a smile and the permission to continue investigating. Even Edgeworth, who tended to work side by side with him by now, usually required some kind of... _persuading_ to let him go nuts on a crime scene. He didn't just grin, flip his hair and went "well, Herr Wright, enjoy your investigation, ja?". Phoenix envied Apollo.

"Then come, there's a printer in the prosecutor's lobby. Achtung, Herr Wright! Don't forget your evidence bag!"

"Oh. Yeah."

He followed Mr. Gavin to the prosecutor's lobby, not even trying to hide his curiosity. The room looked... similar to the defendant lobby, but it was bigger and just a little bit more... modern. There were two white, sleek benches without armrests instead of the century-old couch decorating the defendant lobby and someone had been kind enough to outfit the room with a copier, a computer, a water cooler and several pieces of modern art, all of which looked like something Maggey Byrde would make by spilling coffee on her shirt.

To his surprise, there were several other prosecutors here... for the defendant lobbies, it was one lobby per trial, no sharing. Klavier seemed to notice his confusion, because he said: "Ach, don't be surprised, ja? Normally we don't share this room. Lobby 3 is being renovated right now, so we all have to get used to each other's company..."

Which was probably quite easy for Klavier himself, social star that he was, but something told Phoenix that the other two people in the room were less delighted. Sitting on the weird bench was Simon Blackquill, reading a report of some kind, all while listening to music using the largest headphones Phoenix had ever seen... a single, gigantic sign that he wanted SILENCE.

Hopefully they were as soundproof as they looked, because the other person in the room was Miles Edgeworth, talking on his phone at a volume that would have made Apollo jealous. And a few seconds later, his voice was joined by the equally loud noise of the printer as Klavier started copying the files.

"Here you go, Herr Wright. Take good care of them, ja?"

"Yeah. sure..." Edgeworth had finished his phone call and looked extremely annoyed. Then he noticed Phoenix and his brow furrowed.

"Wright. I appear to have missed your career change. When precisely did you become a prosecutor?"

"Ah, come on, Edgeworth. I just needed some files." And, blatantly sticking his nose into the chief prosecutor's business, he added: "Hey, that was that phone call about?"

To his surprise, he actually got an answer. Edgeworth sighed, shaking his head.

"A murder, what else. Really, what _is_ the problem with this prison?! First that whole thing with Blaise Debeste, then Shelly de Killer stays jailed _just_ long enough to kill Matt Engarde..."

Phoenix grimaced. Gumshoe had - despite the fact that doing so was utterly illegal - shown him the pictures of that crime and _oh boy_, had he regretted looking at them. To think that something could have happened to make him feel sorry for Matt Engarde, of all people... but the man hadn't just been killed, he had been _butchered. _Poor guy...

"...then the inmate relocation which took way too long for what should have been a routine operation and now _this_! And the victim was a former prosecutor, too. That _hurts_, Wright. Even though he was, admittingly, a horrible person. I'll have to investigate that for myself."

He pocketed his phone, groaning in annoyance. "I just know that they are going to rush this investigation. They'll want to get this over with."

x

January 17, 12:31 AM

Wright Anything Agency

x

The Agency was empty when Phoenix arrived. Trucy was at school still, Athena had left to visit Juniper and Apollo was... actually, Phoenix had no idea where Apollo was. Had he gone with Athena? No clue. Whatever. The important part was that there was no one there to greet him.

The answering machine was blinking, but he would have to ignore it. Not because he had time trouble or anything like that, mind you. It was just broken.

He smiled as he remembered it - Trucy had decided to bake it for the sake of a magic trick. It still took messages, it just couldn't actually play them, effectively making it completely useless.

Maybe he'd call back later. Now he wanted to store the files Mr. Gavin had kindly copied for him. What else was there to do, once he was done with that?

Hm. Not much, actually. Athena had taken care of the dishes earlier, Apollo had cleaned the bathroom (voluntarily, no less!) and Trucy had watered - or rather, drowned - Charley. Perhaps he could stick to the files, then, sort them. After that, he could... hm.

Hm. After that, he could? Let's see. The windows needed cleaning, the carpet yearned to be with the vacuum cleaner and there was a spider weaving it's net in the corner. Phoenix decided to ignore that last thing. He didn't mind spiders and neither did Apollo and Athena and Trucy was more likely to make it part of a show that to be scared of it. He'd just have to remember to throw it out before Klavier Gavin visited them, like he sometimes did... the man was an complete arachnophobiac. But maybe he could also clean up the desk a little, that wouldn't hurt and _finally_ order a new answering machine and...

The phone rang.

Oh. Was that the mysterious caller, then? Fine. Phoenix took the reciver and sighed.

"Wright Anything Agency, Phoenix Wright speaking."

"Ah, good day, Mr. Wright."

It took him a moment to recognize the voice and when he _did_ recognize it, his mouth fell open.

"T-that... you..."

He knew this person but _god_, had it been a long time since that. His what... eight big case? Dear Lord, how much time had passed since that! And now this person was calling him out of the blue.

Except, now that he thought about it, maybe he could hazard a guess...

"Acro", he said, silently. "It... has been a while."

"I know. And to be honest, I would have preferred not calling you. At least not under these circumstances. I am being..."

"...accused of murdering another inmate?", Phoenix asked tiredly. Oh, that was so... so incredibly _him_. Those kinds of things only ever happened to Phoenix Wright.

For a moment, there was silence.

"You keep surprising me, Mr. Wright. How did you know?"

"Let's just say I had a hunch. I don't know any details, though. Care to fill me in?"

"The victim was named Jacques Portsman..."

"A former prosecutor."

"...yes. He was choked to death. I'd prefer to discuss the rest in person. That is, if you agree to defend me."

Phoenix bit his lip.

Was this a good idea? Acro _was_ a murderer - Phoenix had proven that himself. But, a second crime? And was there a motive? Did any of this make sense, from a logical point of view?

Yeah, sure. Logical point of view. He was sounding like Edgeworth! Oh, just screw it...

There was a sigh from Acro and Phoenix realized that he had not said anything for almost a full minute. Oh boy. That had to feel horrible for Acro. And true enough, when the former artist spoke again, he sounded incredibly weak.

"I understand. I guess it was a little naive of me to think that..."

"No, no, wait! I was just thinking. I'll take the case!"

"...you do?"

Did he? He'd just said that without really thinking. But again, thinking? That was Edgeworth's job. Phoenix just kind of did things and then they worked.

"Yes. Let me just grab my bag, and then I'll come right over."

And with that, he hung up. Perhaps he'd regret this. But he wanted to see this up close. He wanted to know details.

Should he go alone? No, maybe he'd call Apollo. Yeah, this was the perfect time to find out where Apollo was! Phone, phone... where was the... oh, he was still holding it. Fine.

It beeped a few times until Apollo answered: "Mr. Wright?"

"Hey, Apollo. Where are you right now?"

"I'm at home. Why are you asking?" Through the reciever, Phoenix could hear music. A guitar? It sounded familiar. And loud.

"We just got a case. There's been a murder in prison. An old, uh... _acquaintance_ of mine is being accused. You want to join me?"

A sigh. "You know too many people, Mr. Wright. Should I meet you at the prison?"

"Yeah, exactly. See you there, then."

x

January 17, 12:53 AM

Prison

Visitor's Room

x

"So this man is a murderer? 100% guilty?" Apollo stared at Phoenix in disbelief. "Why are you defending a 100% guilty murderer?!"

Good question, really. By now, though, Phoenix had managed to come up with an answer.

"I know him, Apollo. I was involved with his case. But that's the thing. Back then, Acro had a motive, a very huge, personal motive. But there is no such thing here. No reason to kill."

Phoenix threw a look through the empty room. It was somewhat ridiculous - the prison hadn't been created with disabled people in mind and it did not have an elevator. Unfortunally, Acro's cell was seperated from the visitor's room by two flights of stairs. Right now, two poor guards were busy carrying the inmate's wheelchair upstairs - an act which would easily take another five to ten minutes.

"He's been in prison all the time, though. That changes a person. It might have made him... more violent?"

Apollo was biting his lip in thought, chewing it as he spoke. It was a very deep, thoughtful pose which only had the tiny little side effect of making him sound like he was trying to swallow a violin. Still, he had raised a question which needed to be answered.

"Oh, you better don't let Athena hear that or else she'll get really angry. But no, I... Apollo, that murder ruined his life. He broke into tears at the stand, he destroyed everything he had, he wouldn't risk that again, not without a reason. And besides... he got off easy. Just jail time. If he gets found guilty again, he'll get the death sentence."

"Maybe that's what he wants? I mean, if he really ruined his life that much he might want to die."

"No. Trust me, Apollo. No matter what, Acro has a good reason to hang onto his life."

Right... right! That alone was reason enough to object to everything. Acro could not risk that. Exactly! And just like that, Phoenix was certain of Acro's innocence.

He had just finished that thought when the door opened and two very exhausted guards stepped in, pushing a wheelchair.

Acro had hardly changed. His hair was loose and he wore no make-up, but there was a small bird perched up on his shoulder and the expression in his eyes was the same as it had been years ago. He smiled, a soft, sincere smile, and gave the two attorneys a gentle nod.

"Greetings, Mr. Wright. It's good to see you."


	2. Chapter 2

January 17, 12:59 AM

Prison

Visitor's Room

x

Phoenix returned the nod.

"Good evening, Acro. I'd like to introduce you to my partner, Apollo Justice."

"Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Justice", said Acro, smiling still. "I trust that Mr. Wright has told you about me?"

"Yes... _everything_.", Apollo answered, adding an emphasis to it which both Phoenix and Acro ignored.

"Good. Now, like I promised, Mr. Wright, I will tell you a few details."

Phoenix leaned back and noticed that Apollo had brandished a notepad. He'd been taking notes lately, something Phoenix himself had admittingly never done. This was a habit Apollo had copied from Sebastian, who had most likely copied it from Edgeworth and his ever-present organizer. Perhaps it was time for Phoenix to copy it from Apollo? But he hadn't brought anything to write with.

"The murder happened yesterday, in the hallway near the phone booth. The victim's name was Jacques Portsman. I fear I don't know much about him, other than that he was a prosecutor and that he is a convicted killer."

"I see. Uh, how comes you are being suspected? Did you find the body? Or... witness anything?"

Acro shook his head, frowning. "Not at all. A group of guards informed me that there'd been a murder and proceeded to drag me off to questioning. Up until that, I hadn't even known that anything had happened."

Apollo had scribbled everything down and looked up sharply. "Huh? So then why... did you know the victim?"

"No. I cannot recall having any kind of contact with him, ever. Apparently, the only reason I am being suspected is because..."

"Yes?"

"...there were wheelchair tracks on the scene. And the only inmate in a wheelchair happens to be me."

Apollo smashed his forehead against his notepad and mumbled something about evidence. Phoenix thought about it. "Well... do you know how the victim was killed? And... is there a witness? Please tell us everything you know."

A sigh. "That isn't very much, I fear. The victim was knocked out and choked to death, that much I've been told."

"I understand. Apollo?"

"Yes?"

"I think Edgeworth is going to be the prosecutor in charge. Which might be good or bad, really. And I belive they might end up rushing the investigation... at least Edgeworth was worried about that, but don't ask how I know that. So we should probably hurry, too. Oh! One more thing! Acro, what were you doing at the time of the murder?"

Acro gave a tired smile. "You're assuming that I actually know when the crime occured, Mr. Wright. But I spent most of the day watching videos."

"Videos. What kind of videos?"

Apollo was writing this down for some reason. Why was he writing this down?

"Circus videos. Max, Moe... Regina... they sometimes visit me. They bring me news regarding the circus and, well... you know... _him_." For a moment, there was a glint in his eyes, like tears starting to collect. Then he blinked and the glint was gone. "And they bring me recordings of their shows. And before you ask, no. They were not here yesterday."

"Alright. Thank you, Acro. I'll do my best to prove you innocent."

Phoenix got up, straightened his tie and crossed his arms. "Apollo? Let's get going. We've got a crime scene waiting for us."

x

January 17, 01:14 PM

Prison

Hallway No. 3

x

Just as expected, Edgeworth was indeed busy at the crime scene. Slightly less expected was the person accompanying him. Phoenix could almost feel Apollo's mood brightening up as soon as he saw the other man.

"Mr. Sebastian!"

Sebastian glanced up and grinned. "Oh! Mr. Justice!" Unfortunally that small exchange also caught the attention of Edgeworth, who was way less delighted to see the two defense attorneys.

"Of course. I should have known that you would show up here, Wright. Need I remind you that you have no investigative authority?"

"Aw, come on, Edgeworth. We just want some info to help our client. You _know_ it isn't Acro, Edgeworth, he wouldn't risk that. Pretty please?"

Phoenix tried to flutter his eyelashes and Edgeworth made an annoyed sound in response.

"Hmpf. As much as I enjoy watching you embarrass yourself, I see no need to allow you to investigate. I must set a good example for Sebastian, after all. Now leave. You can come back in two hours when we are gone and investigate behind our backs if you have to, but don't even bother asking me to share our evidence with you."

Oh. Damn it. How foolish to expect otherwise - Edgeworth was a friend, true, but he was still a prosecutor. Perhaps he could at least get a little information.

"Who's the prosecutor in charge? You or Sebastian?"

"Sebastian, technically. As the chief prosecutor, I am not supposed to stand in court, as you know. But this case caught my interest. So, if you want to be specific... Sebastian is in charge. I am merely his... assistant. So to speak."

So... that meant he was going to face Sebastian in court? Interesting. Was it to late to hand control over to Apollo? But then again, if he'd done that, they wouldn't get anything done - neither of them would, because ever since Apollo had entered the room, he and Sebastian had dropped the investigation in favour of chatting with each other.

"Fine, then. Apollo? We need to wait an hour or two. Let's get some coffee, my treat. Come on."

Apollo was not exactly happy to interrupt his conversation with Sebastian, but he followed Phoenix nonetheless.

There was a small cafe close to the prison where Phoenix had gone before and he took Apollo there, ordered two coffees with milk and some walnut cake. As soon as they sat down, Apollo brought up his notepad and started to read ot loud.

"Alright, so I didn't get much info because _somebody_ interrupted me, but I know that there's a witness. Name's Mara Dabria Lawes, a british woman on vacation here. She's staying at the Gatewater Hotel, room 226. They haven't found much evidence yet, but they suspect that the murder weapon might be the phone cord, seeing how the murder happened right next to the phone booth. There's no recording because the security cameras were switched off for the day due to maintainance work. And..."

"Woah, woah, _woah_! Apollo!"

Phoenix raised his hands, staring at Apollo, eyes wide. "You... how on earth do you know that?!"

Apollo shrugged. "I asked Sebastian. What else?"

With that, he took a sip of his coffee and leaned back, grinning widely as Phoenix tried to deal with what he'd just heard.

"Hang on. You... you..."

Breathe. He felt ridiculously old right now. How hadn't he thought about that? Why ask Edgeworth's permission when you could target the much more talkative Sebastian instead? When you could have your _subordinate_ target the much more talkative Sebastian instead?! Fine, if anyone asked... he'd known about Apollo's plan, he'd just been distracting Edgeworth, yeah. But for now, it was time to take the lead before Apollo could upstage him _again_.

"Then perhaps we should split up. Since you already know more about the crime scene than I ever will, you will get back in there and find yourself some evidence. I will make my way over to the Gatewater Hotel and have a chat with Ms. Lawes. Okay?"

He got a salute as response and nodded, satisfied.

"Good. But first we'll finish our coffee."

x

January 17, 01:43 PM

Gatewater Hotel

Hotel Lobby

x

The path back to the hotel had been a long way, but Phoenix had finally arrived. Now he found himself in the lobby, studying the foorplan on the wall. He had a good mind to kick whoever had designed this nightmare of a hotel in the face... there was no rhyme or reason to this layout at all. Ah... here, on the third floor, room 226. Finally.

Luckily the elevator worked here. His feet hurt as he remembered it - the elevator in the prosecutor's building was currently out of order and just two days ago, he'd been forced to walk all the way up to Edgeworth's office. He pitied the poor prosecutors, really.

Ding! There he was, third floor. Now to find room 226 in this hellish place which paid no heed to mortal concepts... if he remembered the floor plans correctly, room 226 was next to room 179 and right across room 257. And the room right in front of him was room 8.

It took him a total of twenty minutes to find the right place, a time span during which he realized that he had not only announced himself in any way, he also had no clue if this woman was even in the hotel right now. It was early afternoon and this woman was on vacation - chances were high that she was off looking at some museum right now. Hang on, were you even allowed to do that when you were a witness? And wasn't a defense attorney supposed to know that kind of stuff? Perhaps once this case was over he'd have to swallow his pride and get some tips from Edgeworth. Again.

But to his relief, he got an instant answer when he knocked.

"One moment, please!" Then the door opened and Phoenix was hit in the face by an sheer unsurmountable wall of green.

Everything about this woman was green. Her striped tie was green, her beret war green, her vest, her shirt and her pants were green. Even her wireframed glasses were green. The only thing that wasn't green were her short hair and her boots, both brown, a combination which made her look like a very weird pine tree.

She blinked up at him. Then she grinned.

"Oh, good afternoon, good sir. How may I aid you?"

"My name is Phoenix Wright, defense attorney." He pointed at his badge. "Is it true that you witnessed a, well... murder?"

There was no answer. But she opened the door and signaled him to come inside. Once he'd sat down at a way too small table, she sighed.

"Very well, then. I must tell you, though... I did not see very much. It all happened very quickly and, well, my eyes..." She took of her glasses for a moment to polish them. "But very well. Shall I just start?"

"Please." And he still had no notepad! God, he had to buy one.

"It happened yesterday, at about... 9 o' clock, maybe? It was rather early, that much I recall. I was visiting the prison when..."

"Excuse me, could you tell me why you were at the prison?", Phoenix interrupted, only just surpressing the urge to yell out HOLD IT!

"Of course. I guess you could call it professional curiosity. I am quite interested in this country's law system... Wait, just one moment, please."

"Hm?"

"I... don't think I introduced myself yet", she clarified, looking off into space like a confused duck.

_Somewhat airheaded, is she_? Well, what a _great_ quirk for an witness to have...

"I am Mara Dabria Lawes. I am a british defense attorney and I came here to study the differences between your law system and ours."

...Not that he wasn't used to witnesses with quirks of all kind. Really, it was hang on a moment.

"You... you are an defense attorney?" he asked, somewhat shocked, "That, uh... I am sorry, I was... not aware of that." _Why didn't she wear a badge!?_ Oh, yeah. Because there were no badges in Britain. Fuck.

"I am extremely sorry. I should have mentioned that before. Would you like for me to continue my testimony?"

"Ah... yes, please." Yep, definitely a lawyer. She'd used the word testimony and they weren't even in court.

"I was visiting prison to study it. After a talk with the prison warden, I had been granted full access to the first, second and third storey, although I had been advised not to visit the third floor on my own. I had just finished with the first one and had entered the second storey when I heard a very loud noise nearby. It sounded like something being hit with a blunt object."

Second floor. That _was_ the floor Acro's cell was on, but it was also the floor where the prison pet's rooms were located. Almost every inmate who was not in high security - and it took _a lot_ to get into high security, a single murder was usually not enough - could access it freely. That did very little to lower the number of suspects.

"That noise got me curious, so I peeked around the corner into the hallway."

He _really_ needed a notepad. "And you saw...?"

Another sigh. "Again, not very much. My glasses... here, take a look at this."

With a frown on her lips, she got up and fetched something from a nearby drawer. It was another pair of glasses, with a large crack on one of the lenses.

"Those are the glasses I am _supposed_ to wear, but they broke when I dropped them as I was unpacking. The pair I am wearing right now is my old pair and I fear it is not nearly as good as the new one. My vision is rather blurry as of now and most of my line of sight was blocked by the wall. Thus, I didn't really get a look at the killer. But I saw the victim! I definitely saw the victim!"

Part of Phoenix was relived. At least this woman hadn't seen Acro at the scene... that would have been a lot of trouble. But it also meant that they wouldn't get much out of her testimony.

"Did you see the exact moment of the murder?"

"I kind of did, yes. The victim fell down just as I glanced around the corner. Then some other person - the killer, I belive - pulled the victim away and the next moment, I heard another noise... like a groan or a grunt. Then the victim fell back into my field of view."

"Uh-huh. And then?"

"I left to fetch help. Unfortunally, it appears that said help arrived to late."

She was frowning again. "I am really sorry, but I fear that I have not seen any more than that. Are you defending the suspect?"

"Yeah, I am..."

A grin. "Then good luck, from defense to defense. I will be seeing you in court soon, Mr. Wright."


	3. Chapter 3

January 17, 02:18 PM

Prison

Hallway No. 3

x

Apollo knew that, technically speaking, he'd been supposed to wait two hours, but he was bored. And when he stepped back into the hallway, Edgeworth and Sebastian had indeed disappeared. Before him was the crime scene, surrounded by police tape. Very well, then. Time to get to work.

His first step was going to have to be the victim himself. A young man, lying on his stomach. There was a small puddle of dried blood around his head, leaking from the back of his head, and a purple strangulation mark around his neck. Sebastian had mentioned that the murder weapon was most likely the phone cord, so...

He felt a small sting of pride as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of disposable gloves - he'd actually remembered to bring them along, like a proper attorney who wasn't Mr Wright. Let's take a look at that phone.

The reciever was bloody. Had it been the blunt object used to knock Mr. Portsman out or had it just gotten bloody during the choking? He'd have to ask Sebastian about that. Hm...

He turned the reciever around in his hands, reached into his pocket once more and retrieved some fingerprint powder. He'd gotten that from Ema Skye a few days ago as a gift and it was time to put it to use... Carefully, he spread the powder on the reciever, blew it away _and_...

And nothing, apparently. There was something... the powder stuck, there had been fingerprints there at some point, but they had been wiped. Would have been to easy, hm?

But as he turned around, something caught his eye... a streak of blood, running from the puddle... no, no, two streaks, like...

...like wheelchair tracks...

Oh. Of course...

He knelt down next to the tracks, taking a closer look. True, it did look very much like wheelchair tracks. It was smudged, like one would expect, but it was still recognizable. Without really knowing why, Apollo pulled out his phone and snapped a picture.

"Héy, whât do yoù thînk yoù âré doîng ovér théré?!"

It took Apollo almost thirty seconds to realize that that had been a sentence and another sixty seconds to figure out the meaning behind it. Jesus! And here he'd been thinking that Gavin's accent sounded fake!

The man who had adressed him was another inmate. He was tall and slender, with messy black hair tied back into a short ponytail. He wore a standart prison uniform, but there was a long white scarf wrapped around his neck.

"Thât îs â crîmé scéné, îs ît not? Gét âwây from thât thîs véry înstânt, yoùng mân!"

Apollo took a step back, hands raised. "Uh, I'm very sorry, Sir. I am a defense attorney, and..."

"So whât? Défénsé âttornéys do not hâvé âny rîght to învéstîgâté!" There was no doubting it... this man was in prison for his crimes against language. This was just ridiculous. And why did this most-definitely-not-french frenchman know that kind of stuff anyway?! But, when in doubt... bluff.

He walked over to the man, arms crossed, trying his hardest to look annoyed with him.

"So, so. You think you know everything, do you? Well, I'll have you know that the prosecutor in charge has given me permission to investigate." Which wasn't _completely_ wrong, really. "If you don't belive that, here _is_ the proof."

And he waved his notepad around in front of the man, too fast for him to be able to actually read anything.

Almost instantly, the inmate calmed down. "Oh, my âpologîés. I mérély wîshéd to âvoîd troùblé."

He bowed and his scarf hit the ground.

"Hm..." Well, if this guy was here anyway... "Name and occupation?"

"François van Monet, lândscâpé pâîntér", the man said, dropping his fake accent for a moment in order to pronounce his name. As if to prove his words, he pulled a paintbrush out of nowhere. There was a white mouse clinging to it.

"Good. Now, Mr. Monet, do you know anything of this crime?"

"Mé? Oh, no, no. Î hâvén't thé slîghtést idéâ, réâlly. Î wâs most défînîtély nowhére néâr thé scéné ât thât tîmé." He smiled, petting the mouse as he tried to avoid Apollo's glance.

_Suspicious..._ "Fine. May I ask _what_ you were doing at that time?"

"Pâîntîng!" He swung his arm in a grand gesture and almost punched Apollo in the face. "Î wâs, of coùrsé... pâîntîng! Précîsély! Oh, I wâs pâîntîng âll âloné în my céll wîth no oné to séé mé, yés. _Thât's_ whât Î wâs doîng."

"Of course. Thank you for your... time, Mr. Monet."

And as the inmate made his way for the staircase, Apollo wrote everything he'd just heard down. Just. In. Case.

x

January 18, 08:16 AM

District Court

Defendant Lobby No. 3

x

There _was_ very little evidence, was there? All fingerprints wiped. No recording. A pair of tracks and a very uninformative witness testimony. This trial was going to be quite interesting.

Phoenix wasn't really sure what to do. He'd talked with Acro a little, but really, there was very little to talk about. He read over Apollo's notes once more, but with no real results.

"Mr. Wright!"

And speaking of the loudly-voiced devil, there he was, Apollo Justice, waving a bunch of papers around. "Mr. Wright! I got... ugh... got you..."

"Apollo, please. Breathe. What is it? I didn't even know you'd be here today."

The defense attorney gasped for air and unceremoniously tossed the papers into Phoenix' lap.

"This... this is the autopsy report... and a list of every place where they found wiped fingerprints... and... and the profile of the victim and the suspect. I talked Sebastian into giving me copies of every file he had..."

Phoenix grabbed the stack of paper, flipping through it with wide eyes. "Apollo, that is amazing! Now we've got a lot more ammo. And just in time, too! Trial is just about to start. Are you going to join me at the bench?"

"Sure thing, Mr. Wright. And don't worry about a thing, WE'RE FINE!"

Everyone in the room winced and Phoenix grimaced. "Unless of course you tear our eardrums apart. Come on now, let's head in."

When they stepped into the room, the judge and the prosecution were already waiting. Phoenix took his place at the bench, Apollo at his side.

"Court is now in session for the trial of Ken Dingling, better known as Acro. Is the prosecution ready?"

"The prosecution is ready, your Honor." Was Edgeworth in the audience? Of course he was.

"Is the defense ready?"

"The defense is ready, your Honor", answered Phoenix, scanning his opponent. Sebastian seemed calm, but one could never know with that man. He could go from calm to crying in the literal blink of an eye. Problem was, that didn't really _mean_ anything. It wasn't a signal that he was cornered, it was just how Sebastian reacted to things.

"Very well. Mr. Sebastian, your opening statement, please."

"O-of course. Uhm. The murder occured two days ago, on, uh", there was the sound of him flipping through his notes, "January 16th, that is, at around 9 o' clock in the morning. The victim was Jacques Portsman, a former prosecutor who was serving jail time after having been found guilty of murder. At the time of death, all security cameras had been switched off for maintainance. Oh, and the victim died by being knocked unconcious with a blunt object, then being choked to death. Was that everything?"

It took Phoenix a moment to realize that that question had been directed at him. Upon realizing it, he gave a quick nod and Sebastian smiled in relief.

"Oh, thank god... anyway, the prosecution calls it's first witness, Ms. Mara Dabria Lawes!"

And there she was, still as green as a tub full of broccoli. She noticed him and gave him a small wave.

"Please state your name and profession for the court."

"Mara Dabria Lawes. Defense Attorney."

The judge chuckled. "Ah, I remember you. You visited the courthouse a few days ago, did you not? It's a pleasure to see you again."

"Thank you, your Honor."

"You are welcome. Now, start your testimony, please."

She nodded and began to repeat the story she had told Phoenix before, this time slower.

"I am currently visiting this country to study it's legal system. Due to that, I decided to take a closer look at the local prison. That was two days ago, at about nine o' clock. I had been allowed to move around freely in the prison and had just entered the second storey when I suddenly heard a loud noise. It caught my attention, so I peeked around the corner to see what had happened."

Phoenix took a look around, scanning the other people in the room. Apollo, head tilted, one hand on his bracelet, waiting for twitches to show themselves. Sebastian was wiping his eyes with one of his ever-present tissues - heaven knew what had caused him to tear up. Phoenix noticed that he was playing with his hands... perhaps due to the lack of a baton? He had broken it, after all, and he did have a tendency to play around with it. One could only hope that poor Apollo's bracelet wouldn't get confused by that.

"I looked around that corner just in time to see a man, which I belive to be the victim, fall to the ground. After that, another person reached in and pulled the victim away. Then there was a groan and the victim fell back down to the ground. I waited a few seconds, but since nothing happened, I left to fetch some help."

Where to start cross-examination, then? There weren't any obvious contradictions, so perhaps he'd just press a little.

"You stated yesterday that you could not see clearly because you are not wearing the right glasses. Correct?"

A nod. "Yes. I broke my good pair when I arrived at my hotel. The one I am wearing right now is quite old. But even if I had been wearing a proper pair, I would hardly have seen more. I was just peeking around the corner, after all."

On the other side of the courtroom, Sebastian scribbled something down.

"Thank you, witness. Please continue your cross-examination, Mr. Wright."

But what with? "Could you repeat your testimony?"

She nodded and began again, until...

"HOLD IT! Repeat that last sentence, please!"

"Uh... of course. I looked around the corner just in time to see a man, which I belive to be the victim, fall to the ground. After that..."

"HOLD IT! So... are you saying that you don't know for certain that it was the victim you saw?!"

Mumbling arose in the gallery, soon joined by the sound of the judge banging his gavel.

"Order! Order! Ms. Lawes, did or didn't you see the victim clearly?"

She pulled her hair in thought. "Well, I did not see his face. But I did get a very nice silhouette of his head and that hairdo of his is rather unique, is it not? So yes, I am quite certain."

Phoenix glanced down at the picture of Jacques Portsman. True, this man's spiked circle of brown hair was very, uh... one-of-a-kind. Hard to confuse, really.

Sebastian hadn't said anything yet...

Time to continue, then. "And you could not even see whether or not the attacker was in a wheelchair? You'd think that would be pretty obvious..."

"I am sorry. I hardly saw the attacker at all. The only thing I could see clearly were their arms."

Hm...

"Could you describe in detail what they were doing with their arms?"

She pondered for a few seconds, then started talking once again.

"Well, as the victim was falling to the ground for the first time, the killer had one hand on the wall. I couldn't see the other one at that time. Then they reached down, grabbed the victim's shirt at the chest and pulled them out of my sight. I think I saw their fingers once more when the victim fell for the second time, but I am not certain of that."

Not much, unfortunally. Perhaps if they could get an more detailed description of...

"Mr. Wright?"

He had almost forgotten about Apollo. Now the young man was leaning over the bench, staring at the witness.

"Apollo? Is something wrong?"

"I'm... not sure. But I think... I think..."

He swallowed, straightened up and glanced over at Phoenix.

"I think my bracelet is reacting."


	4. Chapter 4

January 18, 08:39 AM

District Court

Courtroom 2

x

"Hang on. You _think_ your bracelet is reacting?"

There was a sparkle of annoyance in Apollo's eyes. "Well, I'm sorry! It's really hard to tell with _him_ around!" And he pointed at Sebastian, who was busy flipping through the autopsy report.

"Oh... yeah."

A sigh. "I mean, he's a great guy, really. But he kinda... blocks my powers without really wanting to. Anyway, I'm _pretty_ sure I picked up something else just about now, so..."

Phoenix stepped aside and watched as Apollo asked Ms. Lawes to repeat her statement. A few moments passed.

He really wondered what happened inside of Trucy and Apollo when they percieved something. They always looked so... focussed, like they were no longer aware of anything but the person they were looking at, focussing on every errant twitch until...

"GOTCHA!"

...until the chords of steel rang out, loud enough to make the judge drop his gavel. Luckily Trucy didn't do that, otherwise cheating at poker would have been a lot more difficult.

"Ms. Lawes, when you mention that the attacker had one hand on the wall, you start biting your lip. Are you... unsure about something?"

She was still biting it, in fact. "I... I am not sure. Something about that part disturbs me. Perhaps it is the attorney within me trying to see a contradiction, but... I can't find it..."

Contradiction. One hand on the wall, hang on...

"Mr. Sebastian? If I remember correctly, there were wiped fingerprints on the scene. Were there any on the wall?"

"There were. About six feet of... the... ground..."

He stopped talking.

And Phoenix grinned.

"OBJECTION! May I remind the court that the defendant is in a wheelchair? He could not have reached up that high."

Ah, yes. That's what he'd been aiming for, there it was, his first contradiction.

"OBJECTION! Mr. Dingling is a tall man. It is very much possible that he'd be able to reach up that high."

"OBJECTION! Even if that were possible, why would he do that? It would be extremely uncomfortable!"

"OBJECTION! That is not an argument. It would still be possible!"

"ORDER! ORDER! I will have order! It appears that we much first see proof of whether the accused is capable of reaching this high or not. Mr. Sebastian, I suggest we call the accused to the witness stand. Someone go fetch a measuring tape."

Soon enough, Acro found himself in the middle of the courtroom, one arm raised high as Sebastian measured him. It looked... interesting, really. Phoenix almost wanted to snicker. But unfortunally...

"Six foot two. He can reach that high."

Oh damn it. So much for that...

"Still, why would he reach to that wall? It does not make sense in the slightest!"

"OBJECTION! Just because it doesn't make sense to you does not mean it didn't happen!"

They were going nowhere fast. Fine, then he'd go all out.

"This case is full of holes", he exclaimed, pointing at Sebastian. "You cannot explain why the accused would have left his fingerprints there and the defendant has absolutely no motive. That is something that has yet to be brought up at all."

"OBJECTION! It's pretty clear that this murder was a spur of the moment. The defendant used the very first thing they could find as the murder weapon and left fingerprints, which they wiped only after the crime had been commited! You do not need a longstanding motive for that!"

"OBJECTION! This murder was most definitely planned! After all, this murder occured on the one day when all cameras were switched off!"

"OBJECTION! We have no proof that the killer even knew that! It could be a coincidence!"

"How else where they planning to escape the law, then?"

"Uhm... well..."

Sebastian glanced over his shoulder, searching Edgeworth's aid from the gallery, but the judge interrupted him with a single bash of his gavel.

"Order in the court! The way I see it, this case needs to be investigated more throroughly. I expect both defense and prosecution to look into this matter. Court is now adjourned."

And with that, he brought his gavel down one final time, silencing them all.

x

January 18, 10:18 AM

Wright Anything Agency

x

"This entire thing doesn't make sense and he has to know that. Why doesn't he just give in?!"

"Maybe he wants to look good in front of Mr. Edgeworth?"

Mr. Wright had left to talk with Acro yet again, leaving Apollo at the Agency where Athena was busy writing a report on... big words Apollo couldn't pronounce. Not that he wanted to, mind you. He was too busy venting his anger about Sebastian's behavior.

"But Mr. Edgeworth cares about the truth! He wouldn't ever go along with something this illogical! He..."

"Apollo, did you know that the tendency to underestimate the problems with one's own logic while simultainously overestimating it's obviousness is actually rooted within the collective unconscious and thus naturally found in almost every human being? The ability to understand the flaws in your own reasoning is part of the personal unconscious and is not only something one needs to gain through personal experience, but also something which requires mental effort.", interrupted Athena and left Apollo speechless for a few seconds as he tried to understand even a quarter of what had been said.

"Uh... what?"

She grinned and flipped her pen in her hand. "I'm saying that you are perhaps expecting to much. Not just from Sebastian, but from your own theory. You have told me all about the trial and, well... do you want me to be honest? This isn't nearly as illogical as you would like it to be."

"W-what?!" _How could she say that!?_ "But I have..."

"You have what? A switched off camera which might just as well be a coincidence and some weirdly placed fingerprints. Not placed in an impossible way, mind you. Just slightly uncomfortable. The only thing which really holds up is the missing motive and things like that can be easily explained. A short argument, perhaps. Or maybe Mr. Portsman attacked first, maybe it was self-defense. The point is, your arguments don't really hold water, you just _act_ like they do because you _want_ them to." And Widget, friendly as ever, added: "_But they don't!_"

Apollo groaned. He wanted to start a counterattack, but as much as he hated to admit it, she was right. He hardly had anything to go on here and arguing about it wasn't going to change that fact.

"Fine, I guess you do have a point there... but what else can I _go_ for?"

"The main problem are the wheelchair tracks", Athena offered, continuing with her report as she spoke. "They are the only thing incriminating Acro, but they are also rather heavy."

He had the picture, didn't he? He'd snapped a picture of them, he was sure of that. Pulling out his phone, he almost dropped it as he tried to unlock it, only to be hit in the face with a bunch of messages he'd apparently gotten. He quickly skimmed through them, but most of them seemed pretty unimportant or at least not urgent. A video from Trucy, probably related to magic in some way. Hugh had sent him an invitation to an archery competition, Robin had alerted him that there were some beautiful new pieces of pottery on display at the art museum. A five-feet long essay from Klavier about his new motorcycle. Nothing important. Now... what had he been planning to do? Oh yeah, picture. Right.

There it was. He placed the phone on the table for Athena to see, then just stared at it. Maybe if he looked at it long enough, it would do something funny.

But alas, it did nothing. It stayed what it was: two bloody lines on the ground.

"That's weird..."

Huh? "What's weird, Athena?"

The girl had abandoned her report once more, her head tilted as she looked at the picture.

"There's no profile there. Not even at the edge where the tracks fade away. The floor looks pretty smooth to me, so you'd think the profile would be very clear, but..."

She trailed off, but she needn't say more. "You... you think they might be fake?"

"It would make sense."

It did, didn't it? It was a perfect little trick, one which all but guaranteed that suspicion would fall on the only inmate in a wheelchair. And it was simple enough. Two strokes with a finger or something similar... and then you had wheelchair tracks. Although he'd always wondered what mindset one needed to have to treat blood like paint...

There was something else bothering him about this. Something _really_ bothering him. He just couldn't figure out _what_.

Let's see. They had the tracks on the ground, right here. Next to them, the corpse. Next to that, the wall. And a little further away was the phone booth, just out of sight. Other than that...

But... that was all it took, really. Because...

"Acro is...", he cut himself off and grabbed his bag, digging through it until he found the suspect data. There, somewhere on the first page...

"Acro is 5 feet and 11 inches tall. Athena, how tall are you?"

She blinked. "Uh... 162 centimeters? I mean... 5 feet, 4 inches."

"Then go find some pillows or something to sit on and a chair! I'll go fetch a measuring tape!"

"W-what?! Apollo, wait! What do you..."

But he didn't pay any attention. He just hurried out, into the back room where he found a folding ruler and ran back in. Luckily Athena had listened to him - she'd brought in Mr. Wright's office chair and a few of Trucy's glittery magic pillows.

"Alright! Now..." He put the folding ruler to the wall, pulled out a pencil and drew a mark on the wall. "Here. That's exactly six feet from the ground. Now I want you to put that chair right next to the wall and sit on the chair. Then put so many pillows underneath you that you can just reach the mark!"

"Uh... okay...?"

She obeyed, though. Once she was able to reach the mark with the tip of her fingers, she looked over.

"What now?"

"Now hold still."

And he grabbed the chair and pulled it away from the wall. Athena shrieked.

"H-hey! Careful!"

"Sorry... anyway! Can you still reach the mark?!"

"No... _oooh_... I _get_ it... No, I _can't_."

"Exactly!"

Apollo started to pace up and down. Oh, this was it, _this was it..._

"Acro _can_ reach that high, but only if he's reaching straight up. Why would he be this close to the wall though?! And look at the tracks! They're not that close to the wall, are they? The corpse would be between the wheelchair and the wall! This _is_ it! Thanks, Athena! I think this can give us a pretty good headstart for the next trial."

"Hey, what are you all cheerful about in here? Mind telling me so I can join the party?"

"Oh! Hi, boss! Apollo, tell him what we figured out!"

Apollo gave a short greeting and explained to Mr. Wright what their little experiment had yielded. He nodded in approval.

"Great job, you two. Perhaps it would be good to talk to Ms. Lawes again. Perhaps she can at least tell us if the killer was close to the wall."

"We'll give it a try later. Did you get anything from Acro?"

A sigh. "Not much, unfortunally. The only thing he told me was that he actually knew about the switched-off cameras. Apparently most inmates who weren't in high security knew. One of the guards spilled the information and tried to hide it from the warden."

"Bet that guy's in a lot of trouble right now."

"Probably. Oh, but I did get something else. I bumped into Mr. Sebastian when I left the detention center and he gave me this."

And he handed Apollo a large brown envelope.

"He says he's sorry, he knows you requested it, but he forgot it when he gave you the papers earlier. What's in there?"


	5. Chapter 5

January 18, 10:31 AM

Wright Anything Agency

x

Apollo's face lit up as he saw the envelope. Phoenix winced as his subordinate snatched it from his hands and tore it open, quickly skimming through the document inside.

"That? That's just the profile of an inmate I met while I was investigating. He... was very _insistent_ that he was not in any way involved with this case. So... I asked Sebastian for his profile. You know, just in case."

"Hm. And?"

He watched as Apollo read the page and shrugged.

"Sounds pretty simple, really. Name's François van Monet. He's in prison for forgery and fraud. Apparently he ran some sort of business where he'd sell his own paintings while claiming that they were valuable old pictures. No wife, no kids, no... hey, this is pretty interesting..."

Athena had finished her report and was now trying to force it into a sheet protector. She peeked over Apollo's shoulder.

"What did you find?"

"Says here that the prosecutor who got him jailed was Jacques Portsman."

Everyone fell silent for a moment. Then Mr. Wright spoke up, thoughtful.

"That would make for a nice motive if you ask me. Does he have an alibi?"

"He said he was alone in his cell, painting. So no, he hasn't."

"Hm... perhaps, then, we should call this man to the stand tomorrow."

Athena rolled her eyes. "_We_ should call him? Nice joke, Mr. Wright... ever since when does the defense get to call witnesses?"

But Apollo just laughed. "Ever since Sebastian became a prosecutor, I think. Should be pretty easy to get him to call that guy on. I'll give him a call."

Phoenix watched as Apollo snatched up the phone and dialed Sebastian's number. Next to him, Athena was pouting.

"He's so lucky, with Sebastian and Mr. Gavin! Blackquill would just laugh at me."

"Edgeworth wouldn't even bother laughing. And Ms. von Karma would whip me into oblivion."

"I mean... maybe it won't work. Maybe Sebastian will just say no."

Now it was Phoenix turn to roll his eyes. "Athena, at this point I think Apollo could ask him to jump off a bridge and he would do it. And same thing if it were Sebastian asking Apollo. You'd think they were best friends since grade school."

The girl stopped moving. Then, slowly, she placed her report on the table and whispered, too quiet for Apollo to hear: "Mr. Wright... do you think he's subconciously searching for someone to replace Clay?"

Phoenix opened his mouth, but found no answer. Athena looked at him, silently waiting for his response. Was Apollo... but...

"But... Sebastian isn't anything like..."

"That doesn't matter. It doesn't matter altogether. It's not a bad thing. It might help him, really. I was just wondering."

What could he say about that? If Apollo found comfort in Sebastian then that wasn't a problem, now was it? And as for Sebastian... considering how horrid his father had been - Phoenix shuddered as he remembered it - he was probably desperate for someone to trust, someone who wasn't also his boss. All in all...

"Got it, thanks, Sebastian. All right, Mr. Monet will be called as a witness tomorrow." With a triumphant grin, Apollo put the phone down and crossed his arms. "This is it! We're going to be fine, Mr. Wright!"

"Very good. I suppose, then, that you'll join me at the bench again?"

It was a hypothetical question but Apollo answered nonetheless: "Sure!"

"Good. Then... you know what? You stay here and prepare yourself. Maybe you can figure out something else. Athena, you can help him if you want. I'll go back to the Grandwater Hotel and have another chat with Ms. Lawes. She might just be able to tell me how big the distance between the killer and the wall was."

And this time he'd call the hotel to make sure that she was there before he went there.

x

January 18, 10:46 AM

Gatewater Hotel

Room 226

x

"Would you like a cup of tea, Mr. Wright?"

She didn't wait for an answer, just poured him a cup and placed it down in front of him.

"Milk, sugar, lemon?"

"Sugar, please. Two spoons... thanks, Ms. Lawes."

He'd interrupted her in the middle of making some tea, which luckily meant that he got a cup. It was Ceylon tea... huh, she and Edgeworth had the same taste. Then again, the guy was pretty much an honorary brit.

"So, how are you enjoying your vacation so far?" Nothing wrong with a little smalltalk. He couldn't just show up, ask one question and leave again, that was impolite and besides, that way he had more time to drink his tea.

"Well... I suppose I did get a closer look at this country's legal system than I expected." She laughed. "But I am not complaining. It is a lovely place. Although I fear I am running out of places to visit. I have seen the prison, the courthouse, the prosecutor's building... what more is there to see? I suppose I might take a look at the police station, although if it is anything like the ones I am used to, it will be quite hard to get a glimpse..."

"You want a tip? Ask for Detective Gumshoe. If anyone's going to let you snoop through the police's private matters, it's him."

A chuckle. "Really now? Thank you very much, Mr. Wright. I shall keep it in mind."

Perhaps he could actually do something now. He leaned back, toop a sip from his cup and sighed.

"Actually, Mr. Lawes, I wanted to ask you something myself."

She stirred the tea. "Is it about the murder?"

Of course, she was a defense attorney. Of course she'd know...

"Yes, it is. It would really help us if you knew whether or not the killer was standing _directly next to the wall._"

A few moments passed as she pondered.

"That... that is actually... no, I do not think they were..."

Weak statement, too weak to be brough up in court. "Please try to remember", he urged her. "It is extremely important!"

"Y-yes, but... oh!"

She clapped her hands together, her eyes suddenly wide as she almost spilled her tea.

"What is it? Did... did you remember something?!"

"Not remember... realize! The killer was most definitely _not_ standing directly next to the wall!"

_Yes_! But maybe it was too early to rejoice. Hopefully there was some reasoning behind this woman's logic...

"Could you tell me why you are so certain of that?"

"Certainly. When the victim fell, they fell into the space between killer and wall. I would bet my very life on that! So the killer couldn't very well have been standing close to said wall, now could he?"

He smiled. Very good. "Thank you very much. One more question... could you write that down for me?"

x

January 19, 09:08 AM

District Court

Courtroom 2

x

"Court is now in session for the trial of Ken Dingling. Is the prosecution ready?"

"Yes, your Honor."

"Is the defense ready?"

"Yes, your Honor."

"Very well. Now, I've heard that the defense wishes to present some evidence? It is unusual to start a trial this way, but if the prosecution doesn't mind..."

The judge glanced over to Sebastian, who bowed. "The prosecution has no objections, your Honor. Please present whatever you wish, Mr. Wright."

He'd gotten himself a new baton, Phoenix noticed... made from the light brown wood of a cherry tree, with fine ornaments carved into it. It looked extremely expensive.

"Thank you, Mr. Sebastian. Now, if I may... what I have here is a signed document written by Ms. Lawes, containing an addition to her previous testimony. If I may read it out loud for this court..."

"But of course! Go ahead, Mr. Wright."

He nodded his thanks to the judge and began: "_I, Mara Dabria Lawes, hereby state that the killer was not standing close to the wall_. Now, this piece of testimony might seem simple, but I am sure Mr. Sebastian understands the contradiction it creates..."

And oh boy, did Sebastian ever understand. He was bending his baton - _don't break it again!_ \- and there were tears running over his cheek... although admittingly, those could just as well be there for an completely unrelated reason.

"OBJECTION! The killer could have moved!"

Phoenix smiled, but didn't say anything.

"Mr. Wright? Do you have any objections?"

He shook his head, slowly. "No, your Honor. The defense admits that the killer could have easily moved..."

"W-what?! But then..."

"...Unless, of course, the killer was the defendant."

"OBJECTION! I... _what_?!"

Next to him, Apollo was giggling like a delighted schoolgirl. Phoenix decided to ignore it, hard as it was.

"Mr. Sebastian, may I ask if the body has, at any point, been moved?"

The prosecutor blinked. "N-no... based on the size and location of the bloodstain, no."

"And the body is where?"

"Right next to the wall..."

"Exactly. Now, if that is the case, one needs to step over the body in order to touch the wall... but of course, that is impossible if one _is in a wheelchair_."

"OBJECTION! The killer could still be the defendant! They could have touched the wall _before_ they killed the victim!"

"HOLD IT! True, but may I remind you that the fingerprints have been wiped away? Was that also done before the victim's death? Did the killer try and hide his crime _before committing it_?!"

"I... I... nngh... O-OBJECTION! If the crime was premeditated..."

"...the lack of motive would come into play again. Wasn't it you who claimed that this murder was a spur of the moment?"

Now the proescutor really looked like he was about to snap his baton in half. "I... hngrgh..."

Apparently one of the many things the young man had copied from Edgeworth was the tendency to make really weird noises when he got cornered.

"If we keep all of this in mind, it should be obvious that the killer is not and could not possibly be the defendant!"

There was mumbling in the gallery, getting louder with every second. The judge slammed down his gavel.

"Order! I will have order! Mr. Wright! I belive you have profen your defendant's innocence!"

He rubbed his hair. "Thank you, your Honor. Now, to cement our theory... I belive there is a witness which needs to be called?"

It took a short moment for Sebastian to realize that doing so was his job and once he did, he winced.

"Oh! Yes, the prosecution calls, uhm...", the sound of one confused prosecutor flipping through his notes again, "...François van Monet into the stand!"

And with a creak, the doors opened and in stepped two guards, the inmate walking between them.


	6. Chapter 6

January 19, 09:17 AM

District Court

Courtroom 2

x

"Please state your name and profession."

" François van Monet. Î âm â lândscâpé pâîntér... âh, ând ân înmâté, of coùrsé."

Apollo observed him, silently. He had his paintbrush still, this time without the mouse.

"Please tell us what you were doing on the 16th of this month, at 9 o' AM."

He made a grand gesture, his hands raised high. "Théré îs not mùch to téll! Î wâs... pâîntîng! Pâîntîng ând pâîntîng âll dây long ùntîl my fîngérs âchéd!"

Phoenix nodded. "And... can you prove that?"

"Now, how woùld Î? Îs ît not trùé thât thé câmérâs wéré swîtchéd off thât dây?"

Apollo knew that he wasn't technically supposed to do anything, but he chimed in anyway: "Your Honor, please note that this witness has just admitted to knowing about the switched off cameras!"

"Did he? I will have to take your word for that, Mr. Justice, as I quite frankly find it hard to understand this witness..."

"Don't concern yourself with that, your Honor. The defense would like to ask the witness a question, if the prosecution allows it."

"Hm. Well? Do you, Mr. Sebastian?"

The prosecutor winced. "Huh? Oh! Y... yes, of course. Ask away, Mr. Wright."

Apollo leaned back and watched as Mr. Wright slammed the table for absolutely no reason other than to show that he could.

"When you got arrested, _who_ was the prosecutor who proved you guilty?"

"Wéll... Jâcqués Portsmân, of coùrsé! Ând whât â pâîn ît wâs, to bé bétrâyéd by â féllow frénchmân..."

_You aren't french and according to the victim data, neither was Mr. Portsman!_ But that didn't matter. What mattered was the look of shock and understanding on the judge's face.

"Y...you were jailed by Mr. Portsman?! Mr. Wright! Surely you don't intend to..."

Phoenix raised his hands. "All I am saying is... it is a _possibility_ which I am willing to explore."

"OBJECTION!"

Sebastian was pointing at them, brows furrowed. "You... do you have any real reason behind this accusation or is this just another one of your bluffs!?"

"Well... I think we should just ask the witness in person. Mr. Monet?"

"Y... yés?"

_He's getting nervous_. He _knows_ that we know.

"Were you, in any way, involved in the murder of Jacques Portsman?"

The man took a step back, placing one hand above his heart in fake shock. Clever._ He is hiding his tension by putting a layer of fake tension on top. _But I can _feel_ that you are scared.

"_Mé_?! This îs a joké, yes? Yoù cannot reâlly belîve..."

"_His accent is slipping_", whispered Phoenix and Apollo nodded.

"Now, Mr. Monet, here is my view on the whole thing. I think - Mr. Sebastian, feel free to chime in whenever you wish - I think that you have played a _very_ heavy part in this crime. The defense asserts that this witness may have been the true killer!"

"N-no! I... Î am not... I hâve not... I was merély pâintîng, thât I cân swear on. I am not învolved în thîs crimé, not in thé slîghtést!"

**Ba-dum**

His bracelet tightened.

Not involved, huh? So his hunch had been correct indeed...

Now, let's see... squint a little, focus only on the person you're preciving... a short statement, such a short statement, surely there wasn't much to hide... but like always, that short statement was everything and everything was the statement. Mr. Wright said something, but it wasn't important, it wasn't worthy of being heard, not here, not now...

Percieve. Focus...

I was merély pâintîng, thât I cân swear on. _I am not învolved în thîs crimé, n-o-t i-n t-h-é s-l-î-g-h-t-é-s-t..._

Everything slows down. Where to look, where to search? His hand gripping the paintbrush, squeezing it until his fingers turned red. His mouth, mispronouncing vowel after vowel. His eyes, trying to maintain their haughty expression, trying to hide his true emotion - _you can't hide from Justice_ \- his entire stance, pompous, yet defensive. How was he moving, how was he breathing, how often was he blinking? Every little detail was important. Every... detail... was...

_...t-h-â-t I c-â-n s-w-e-a-r o-n. I a-m n-o-t î-n-v-o-l-v-e-d î-n t-h-î-s c-r-i-m-é..._

...his other hand reaching up, clutching around his scarf as he glanced aside.

_GOTCHA!_

"Mr. Monet... you are quite nervous, aren't you? Especially when you insist that you were not involved... but your own body has betrayed you! Now..."

"OBJECTION!"

Apollo was still dazed from percieving and for a moment there, he had actually forgotten all about Sebastian's existence. Now the prosecutor was glaring at them, a smile on his lips.

"The prosecution... admits that the defendant is innocent", he said and the judge had to call for order as the noise in the gallery increased, "but it refuses to accuse this landscape painter of this crime! A twitch, no matter how and when, is not evidence! Do you have any real proof, Mr. Wright? Mr. Justice?"

_No. Not a single piece, thank you very much. Can't we just ignore that?_

"If so, you better present it now!"

Apparently not. Damn.

Apollo let his gaze wander through the audience. He caught the heavy glare of Mr. Edgeworth, an ever-so-slight smile on his lips as he looked at Sebastian. Then he noticed Apollo and instantly begun to frown.

Evidence. Where were they supposed to get evidence right now?!

"Apollo?"

"W-what is it, Mr. Wright?"

His boss grinned. "You're searching for evidence, aren't you? Let me guess... you aren't finding anything?"

"Hmpf. No need to rub it in, Mr. Wright."

"Aw, don't be like that, Apollo. You know, I actually have an idea..."

_Hang on, what?!_ "What... what is it?!"

"Try turning your way of thinking around."

Great. That was such a Phoenix Wright thing to do. Turn around, it was always about turning things around with this guy. What was he supposed to do? He was searching for some evidence to go with Mr. Monet's nervosity... how the heck was he supposed to turn that around? What, was Mr. Monet's nervosity going to...

_Hang on._

Going... to get him some evidence?

"Mr... Monet... could I see your scarf?", he asked as if in slow motion. This wasn't ever going to work... this wasn't _ever_ going to work... this wasn't...

"W-whât for?! Thére... theré is nothîng w-wrong wîth my scârf..."

Mr. Wright chimed in at that: "Then there is nothing wrong with showing it to us."

The man glanced over to the prosecution, but found no solace there. He gulped, then, slowly, took off his scarf to reveal.

Silence. Complete, utter silence.

"T-that... Witness! Is that... is that a bloodstain?"

"It's pâint..." But it was clear from his voice that he himself knew it was hopeless.

"Mr. Sebastian!" Phoenix reached out, stuck a pose as he pointed. "I am sure that, if you were to compare the blood on this scarf with the bloodstain at the crimescene, you would get a perfect match."

A few seconds passed. Then, Sebastian nodded.

"And I'll do that. Mr. Monet? You are arrested. Uh... somebody arrest this man. Thank you."

"Very good. I expect further investigation so that we may have a trial for this man. As for now... I belive we have seen enough. Mr. Dingling... I hereby pronounce you..."

**NOT. GUILTY.**

And the audience broke into cheers.

x

January 19, 09:17 AM

District Court

Defendant Lobby No. 3

x

"I have to thank you, Mr. Wright."

Acro looked up at him and Phoenix felt a sheepish smile come on... a very familiar feeling, to be honest. "Aw, it was nothing. I mean, you _were_ innocent, so..."

"That isn't what I meant."

"Huh?"

The former acrobat folded his hands and placed them in his lap. "I want to thank you for taking this case in this first place. For beliving in my innocence even though you had no reason to do so. That is what I am grateful for. I... would most likely have gotten the death penalty for this, and then..."

He didn't finish his sentence, but the agony on his face was clear as day. Phoenix searched for something to answer, something to say... but found nothing. And Apollo stayed silent, too, not a single word from him.

However, someone else spoke up. "Well done, Wright."

It was Edgeworth, looking prim and proper and perfectly prosecutery even though he hadn't even been involved in the trial. But of course, Sebastian was with him, hands folded, his baton in his pocket for once.

"Shucks, Edgeworth, you're gonna make me blush. Besides, Apollo did his fair share, too..."

"Oh, I am not going to claim otherwise. All three of you have done good today. And, of course, congratulations to you, Mr. Dingling."

Acro bowed his head. "Thank you, Mr. Edgeworth. Now, Mr. Wright, I belive we must part now. I still have a few years of prison time waiting for me."

The two prison guards stepped up to him and, without another word, grabbed his wheelchair to haul him away. None of them spoke until the door had closed behind them. Then, Apollo sighed.

"Guess it's time to head back to the agency now, huh?"

"You can go home if you want. Athena is there, we should have things covered..."

"No, no... my jacket is still there and I wanted to clean the windows."

"All right, then. What about you two? You're going anywhere special or..."

Edgeworth brushed back his hair. "I have a meeting with Judge Courtney which I must honor first, so I will stay here. Sebastian might wish to come along."

"Yeah, sure, I'll head back to the office. Tell Justine I said hi, yeah?"

„Of course. It should not last longer than thirty minutes, so I will come to the office soon."

And so, Phoenix and Apollo headed back to the Agency, Sebastian accompanying them for a small part of the way until, after about twenty minutes, they had reached the Agency where Athena had just made a pot of coffee.

With no more clients to take care off, they eventually just started doing chores. Apollo did indeed wash the windows and once he was done with that, he fished the spider from it's hiding place in the corner because "what if Klavier comes over Mr. Wright, don't you remember last time?!". Phoenix did clean his desk and after that, he sat down at his laptop to, as Athena had reminded him, "finally replace the _god damn answering machine_ _Mr. Wright, it's been broken for __**weeks**__!_" and while he did that, she grabbed the vacuum cleaner and hang on a second. _That rug was white?!_

"Looked better in green."

"It did. Do we have money for a new rug. Mr. Wright?"

"Well, according to my current bank balance I have..." _tip tip tip_ "...twelve dollars to spend."

"Does that mean no?"

"That means yes. I just need to talk Edgeworth into letting me borrow something."

"I'll pester Klavier about it."

"And I'll mention it to Blackquill."

"What?! No! You can't just rob every prosecutor in the city!"

At which point they all broke into laughter, followed by a longwinded discussion about how to get money from prosecutors. There were quite a few sweet ideas, such as setting up a tissue-delivery system for Sebastian or selling Klavier one of his own autographs.

All in all, it took them several hours to get all their work done. By the time they had finished, it was 12:50. Trucy had texted Phoenix to inform him that she was going to have lunch at a friend's house after school and none of them was really hungry, so they didn't cook, unless one counted Athena fixing herself a bowl of cereal. And after that...

Okay. Now they really had nothing left to do. Apollo suggested watching a movie, but Phoenix shot down the suggestion the very second it was raised. He remembered the last time they had tried to agree on a movie. His tie still faintly smelled of soda.

Eventually Athena decided to turn on the radio so she could listen to the news. Nobody stopped her.

"...stole several documents. The police is investigating. There has been a car accident on Pinnacle Street. The victim..."

"Great, I'm too late. It's almost..."

She didn't get any further, because...

"...is Mr. Miles Edgeworth, Chief Prosecutor."


	7. Chapter 7

January 19, 12:57 PM

Wright Anything Agency

x

"Hang on... what?!"

Phoenix stared at the radio, eyes wide in horror as the newscaster continued: "The man was hit by a car on his way back to his office and suffered a broken leg and a concussion. The identity of the driver has yet to be discovered..."

"What? WHAT?! Give me the phone!"

Phoenix dialed Edgeworth's number, put the phone to his ear, fearfully listening. Nothing happened. Silence, silence. _Answer your phone, dammit!_

Nothing. He dropped the reciever.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, we... we gotta... he's hurt, we have to do..."

_Something. What?!_ Call... call someone. _Who?!_ Who knew, who could know... something about him, something about this, something...

Franziska! Of course, she'd know, she was his sister! Where had he put the phone?! Dial her number... _what was her number?!_ Oh, right. _Come on..._

"Von Karma am Apperat."

Some German nonsense. He didn't understand it, he didn't care, he didn't...

"Ms... Ms. von Karma! You... I just heard in the news... Is Edgeworth okay?!"

There was a _CRACK_ on the other end of the reciever and Phoenix found himself grateful that she had yet to find a way to whip people through the phone.

"Phoenix Wright! Cease this foolish behavior! Calm down and then repeat this question of yours in a proper manner!"

Calm down?! _Calm down_?! But he took a deep breath and closed his eyes and managed to form a grammatically correct question.

"Is... Is Edgeworth okay? I heard he... he got in a car accident!"

"That was still quite panicked, but I shall let it slide. For your information, he was admitted to the Dye-Young Hospital... again. Knowing him and his foolishness, he will probably be delighted if you were to visit him."

"I... I will! Thank you, Ms. von Karma!"

"Hmpf. Tell him that I will visit him once I am done with my paperwork."

"Of course..."

After he hung up, he looked up to be met with the gaze of Athena and Apollo, both of them staring at him as if he'd gone completely insane.

"Mr... Mr. Wright! You..."

"No time for chit-chat. I gotta go visit Edgeworth!"

"Wait! We're coming with you!"

And indeed, they went together. Caught the bus at the very last moment, rushed into the hospital. Fortunally Maggey was still working there, had yet to lose her job and allowed them to see Edgeworth pretty much instantly.

And only when the door opened did Phoenix relax, because Edgeworth was awake, leafing through a report. The large, scrawly letters suggested that it had been written by Detective Gumshoe.

"Edgeworth!"

"Ah, Wright. How kind of you to visit me."

Phoenix breathed a sigh of relief. The prosecutor looked perfectly fine, apart from a bandage around his head and the white cast surrounding his leg.

"Edgeworth. It's... good to see you're all right."

"Thank you. Now, Mr. Justice, Ms. Cykes, if you would kindly stop hiding in the hallway..."

The two attorneys stepped inside, trying to avoid Edgeworth's gaze as they did so.

"Well... hi, Mr. Edgeworth.", stated Athena, fiddling with her earring and Apollo grimaced and added: "So, uh... what happened?"

A sigh. "I'm afraid I don't know that myself. I had finished my meeting with Judge Courtney and was heading back to the office when a car hit me from behind. I woke up in this hospital room, which is quite familiar, by the way. And once more, Wright, you will notice that my reaction to being hit by a car is quite a bit more reasonable than yours was back then..."

"Really, Edgeworth? Are you going to get on my nerves every time you get hurt?"

"It is hardly my fault that you keep getting injured in unsatisfactory ways. If you would just sit down and _react_ correctly for once... oh, forget it."

He put the report down and crossed his arms. "I belive Detective Gumshoe and Ms. Skye are currently busy investigating. They were both rather... _agitated_ when I got hit and are very eager to get their hands on the culprint. I suppose whoever drove that car is going to regret it soon, especially since Franziska has already volunteered to prosecute."

And he chuckled, a rare sight indeed.

"So you don't know who hit you?" asked Phoenix and Edgeworth nodded in response.

"No. I blacked out the very second I got hit."

Phoenix looked over to Athena and Apollo. "Then maybe we should have a little chat with Ema and Gumshoe. I'm curious."

"Aren't you always, Wright? Although I hope you do not plan on defending this driver."

The only answer he got was laughter, followed by Phoenix giving a short order to Athena and Apollo.

"Hey, you two. Do me a favour and drop in at the Criminal Affairs Department, yeah? Call me if you get any news."

"Gotcha, boss. Come on, Athena."

x

January 19, 01:36 PM

Criminal Affairs Department

x

When Athena and Apollo arrived at the department, they bumped into Gumshoe and Ema almost immediately. The two of them were busy at a computer, Gumshoe typing something as Ema watched on, several photographs in hand.

"Hey, Detective Gumshoe, Ms. Skye! What are you doing?"

Ema laughed. "Oh, don't even pretend that you don't know. We're searching for the jerk who hit Mr. Edgeworth!"

Her other hand was clutching a bag of Snackoos which she munched on. "How long is this going to take?!"

"Calm down, pal, I'm working as hard as I can." And, to Apollo and Athena: "There's no witnesses and almost no evidence, but we got us a few really good pictures of some tire tracks."

Oh hey. More tracks. More track-based evidence. Apollo studied the picture Ema held out with faint interest. They showed little more than a close-up of a damp mark on the street, most likely the result of a nearby puddle. However, the profile was clearly visible and it looked... unfamiliar.

"I've never seen tires like this before", whispered Athena. But she wasn't quiet enough, the forensic expert heard her anyway and nodded.

"Exactly. That's why we're checking the archive for something similar."

"Ah! Hey, look at this, pal!"

"Did you find anything?!"

The three of them leaned in, glancing over the detective's shoulder.

"Hey, yeah! That sure looks like the picture to me. What kind of tire is it?"

Gumshoe grinned. "A really useful one, pal. That brand of wheel is pretty exclusive. Says here the only cars using it are the ones of, uh... Motorental Company. Never heard of that."

"I have", said Athena, twirling her ponytail around. "That's a rental company. They rent all kinds of motorized vehicles, like cars and trucks and motorbikes."

A nod from Ema. "Sounds pretty good to me. I suggest we pay that place a visit, compare the picture to the real deal and maybe figure out who had one rented at the time of the accident."

Apollo grinned at her. "Sounds good. Can we join?"

"Hmpf. As if there was any way to stop you."

She made a step back and allowed Detective Gumshoe to get up.

"All righty then, pal. I'll drive if you want!"

Detective Gumshoe led them outside to his car, a tiny metallic object which looked like it had been through the crusher at least twice, but once they managed to squeeze themselves into it, it was surprisingly comfortable. Blankets, coats and plastic bags cluttered the tiny space and created a soft puffer on all sides. The scent of instant noodles hung in the air, mixing with the chocolaty smell of Ema's Snackoos and somehow that didn't end up smelling completely disgusting.

"Mind if I put one some music?"

None of them minded, but who'd have thought that Gumshoe liked Reggae? The streets were empty and soon they arrived at Motorental Company.

It was a large, grey chunk of concrete surrounded - absolutely, completely surrounded - by vehicles. There were cars, motorcycles, mopeds, scooters, trucks, busses, tractors, boats. And signs. Several gigantic neon signs, all of which were trying to attract more attention than their competetors. The sign of the company itself was tiny in comparisation - it was white metal, made to resemble a licence plate. Unfortunally, whoever had designed it had not taken the long name of the company into consideration - it had been squeezed onto the tiny sign to the point where it was hardly even readable. Their logo, a pyramid of small stylized cars, faded into the background and couldn't be recognized. And yet, the place seemed to be doing great.

Ema strode over to the door and pushed it open. She'd apparently taken the lead, because everyone else just followed after her.

Inside, there was just a small room, with a sleek desk with a young lady behind it. She was slender, blonde and wore glasses. She was busy lazily flipping through a small, pink book and hardly even glanced up when they stepped in.

"Welcome to Mororentals Company. How may I help y - oh, is that you, Detective?"

Gumshoe stopped mid-step and grinned.

"Hey, I know you, pal. You're Adrian Andrews, right? We need to know the names of everyone who had a car rented today at 11:16!"

Oh, so that had been the time of Mr. Edgeworth's accident? Apollo decided to make a note of it. And... Detective Gumshoe knew this woman? Actually she did look familiar, where had he seen her before...

The woman looked rather startled now.

"I... I... of... of course. Please wait a moment. I... I'll call the manager."

She got up and disappeared through a door, leaving the group behind. As soon as the door closed, the aura of professionalism fell. Athena walked off to look at a cardboard model of a truck.

He'd seen her in a case file, maybe? She really did look very familiar, one of Mr. Wright's cases perhaps?

A few minutes passed, ticking past as they waited. Eventually, Ms. Andrews returned.

"If you would follow me, please? Our manager has given me full authority, so I may answer your questions."

Gumshoe nodded. He seemed to have remembered that he was supposed to be in charge and had taken his place back from Ema who had so impolitely stolen it.

"All right, pal. Come on, guys."

Apollo glanced over to Athena, who seemed weirdly disappointed having to leave the truck model behind, but she followed after them as Ms. Andrews led them over into the next room.

"Please, have a seat", she said, giving a broad wave indicating a few stacked-up chairs. All in all, this room seemed to be a meeting room of some kind, only that it had seemed to have spent the past few years as just a room without bothering with the meeting part.

They took a seat anyway and the woman nodded.

"Very well. I will help you out if you wish. What do you need?"

"Well, we need to know...", Ema had taken over again, "who might have used one of your cars at around 11:16. There was a car accident."

She nodded. "May I ask what type of car? We seperate our cars in groups: Small, Basic, Large, Eco, Speed, Family and Outdoor. Do you know which one it was?"

No one answered. Apparently, she took that as curiosity, for she began to explain. "Small, Basic and Large refer to the size, of course. Eco is environment-friendly while Speed is faster than the other brands. Family has a total of eight seats and Outdoor was created for dirt roads and forest roads."

"Oh, uh..." Athena grinned. "Thanks, but..."

Apollo coughed. He wasn't sure if this was going to help, but... "We have a picture."

"May I see it?" Detective Gumshoe handed it over and she turned it in her hands. "Ah, I see. We do have our own brand of tires. I belive those would be the ones used for Small, Basic, Large and Family. Please wait one moment."

She switched on a nearby computer. No one spoke as she clicked a few files, then nodded again.

"Here we go. Now... 11:16. May I ask where the accident happened?"

He did remember that. "Pinnacle Street."

"So, about fifteen minutes from here to Pinnacle Street, yes? Then these two are out, they rented at 11:12. This guy is out, he returned his car three minutes earlier... In that case, there are but two cars that would match the description. Both Basic."

"Great! Who had them, pal?"

_Tip tip. Tip._ "Both of them were rented by one man each, I belive. I will have their names in a moment. Here they are."

She turned around, a proud smile on her face.

"Car one was rented by Mr. Larry Butz, car two by Mr. Sebastian Debeste. Is there something else you wish to know?"


	8. Chapter 8

January 19, 02:46 PM

Dye-Young Hospital

Room 10

x

"_EXCUSE ME_?!"

Three people, yelling the exact same words at the exact same time. Even more impressive, while Mr. Wright and Ms. von Karma were both known for losing their temper every once in a while, Mr. Edgeworth was usually the human personification of stoicness. To hear him yell like this was rare. And yet...

Not that Athena was surprised, mind you. She felt the _**confusion**_, the shock vibrating through the air, an reaction like that was pretty justified.

They had called Mr. Wright to find that he was with Mr. Edgeworth... whether he was there again or had never left in the first place was a riddle for the ages. They had decided to head there in order to bring the new information they had found, not that it was good info. There was a total of two suspects now and neither one of them seemed likely. Larry Butz was a fool and a klutz, but he wasn't a bad person. Mr. Sebastian pretty much admired Mr. Edgeworth and wouldn't have dreamed of harming him. So then...

"There has to be an error here. Neither of these fools would hurt my brother!"

Franziska clutched her whip and every person in the room took a step back. But she didn't put it to use, just pulled it in anger. The german prosecutor had fulfilled her earlier promise to visit Edgeworth in the hospital and had been busy chatting with him when Apollo and Athena had returned. Now she looked like she was about to explode.

Next to her, Phoenix rubbed his neck and tried to defuse the situation with a nervous grin. "I mean, not that he's a bad guy, but I wouldn't put it past Larry. He's done dumber things than thaAAARGH!"

_CRACK! _"FOOL!" And there was that whip. Phoenix cried out in agony, his voice cutting through Athena's ears as Franziska yelled.

"Mr. Butz may be the most foolishly foolish fool I have ever come across, but even he would not be foolish enough to perform a hit-and-run, especially not on one of his closest friends!" _CRACK_! "And how _dare_ you to accuse your friend of such a deed, Phoenix Wright!?"

Mr. Wright groaned as he rubbed his wounded shoulder and Athena felt compelled to come to his help.

"He... he might not have noticed it", she said and ducked in horror upon realizing that she had just objected to Ms. Franziska von Karma, who didn't concern herself with the safety of other people. But Franziska just scoffed.

"Oh, of course. He did not notice that he had left the road, was driving on the sidewalk and hit a pedestrian. You amuse me, Athena Cykes. I thought my opinion of Mr. Butz was low, but it appears you are quite a step above me in that regard." She crossed her arms. "Although, considering that the other option consists of Mr. Sebastian..."

"He didn't have anything to do with this, okay?!"

That had been Apollo, brows furrowed as he stared Ms. von Karma down, daring her to object. But she merely shrugged.

"Oh, I am not doubting that. It would be foolish to even consider him a suspect, let alone accuse him."

Apollo blinked. "But then..."

"Hmpf. Why don't you go have a little chat with Mr. Sebastian? You seem to have taken to him quite a bit. Feel free to take Athena Cykes along. Me and Phoenix Wright will meet up with Mr. Larry Butz. Miles Edgeworth? I expect you to stay here for as long as it takes. Do not foolishly endanger your health!"

She whipped the foot end of his hospital bed and Edgeworth winced.

"Franziska, please calm down! You may rest assured that I will not leave this bed until I am allowed to."

"Good, for if you do otherwise", _CRACK_!, "your health _will_ be in danger. Come, Phoenix Wright."

She snatched him by his tie and Athena and Apollo just watched as she dragged him out like an unruly dog. Behind them, Edgeworth tried to hide a smile.

"I suppose, then, that Larry will be taken care off. Mr. Justice, Ms. Cykes? Do me a favour and help out Sebastian for me, yes? Thank you."

x

January 19, 03:59 PM

Larry's house

x

Larry was sprawled over his old couch when they entered, playing a game on his phone. As they stepped in, he glanced up and almost broke into tears.

"FRANZYYYY! You're _visiting_ me! At _home_! This is the happiest day of my _entire life_!"

He didn't even notice Phoenix. Oh, fine.

"Larry Butz. I see that you are very... busy right now", she glanced at his phone and pulled a face, "so we will keep this short. Did you rent a car from Motorental Company today?"

Larry stopped for a moment. Then he did break into tears.

"_WHY DID YOU HAVE TO REMIND MEEEEEEEEEEEE?!_"

"Woah, woah, woah!"

Phoenix raised his arms and only now did Larry see him.

"Oh! Oh, Nick! _What have I done to deserve it aaaall!_"

He sobbed, shivering, and reached out dramatically. There was a total of one thing that could be the cause of this.

"Girl trouble again?"

"You have no idea! Melicia, she left me! This is the worst day of my entire life!"

"_All right Larry_, just calm down and tell us what happened." Franziska was starting to look very whip-happy right now and the last thing they needed now was an even more panicked Larry.

"I... I took her out for brunch earlier. At eleven, yeah? Drove up to her house in a rented car and a nice suit, I even brought her some roses from the gas station! We went to a fancy place called Tree Bean or like..."

"Trés Bien?", Phoenix asked with a sigh.

"Yeah, that thing. We ordered some coffee, some cake and then..."

He sobbed. "_Then I spilled my hot coffee all over her expensive new dreeeeeess!_"

Franziska blinked.

"I must admit, I fail to see the problem with this. True, it was a foolish mistake, but..."

"She got _burned_ real bad, Franzy! That coffee was like one billion degrees hot!"

"Oh. So..."

"She _left_ me, Nick! She left me over a cup of coffee! What am I supposed to do nooooow?!"

"What did you do after that?" Franziska crossed her arms.

"I went home, of course! Well, after cleaning up the spilled coffee..."

Phoenix nodded. "And... do you have any idea how late it was when you left?"

Larry bit his lip, pondering. "Well... we started at eleven and then there was the spill and the clean-up and, like, I dunno... five to twenty minutes?"

"That is... not as precise as we'd like it to be", said Franziska and Phoenix had to agree with her.

"Larry, don't you have anything better than that? It's important."

"Huh? What's it so important for?"

Phoenix sighed. Here went nothing... "We're trying to prove that you didn't almost kill Edgeworth."

"H-hang on. _What_?!"

Larry raised his arms and stared at him in shock.

"What do you mean, almost killed Edgey?!_ What are you talking about?!_"

"My foolish brother was hit by a car just a few hours ago."

"_**WHAAAAAAAT?!**_"

And now Larry looked _furious_.

"Who did that?! Who... Nick, who did that to Edge... hey, hang on a second."

He blinked a few times, then his mouth fell open.

"You... you think I did it? You think I did it! That's what you think, don't you? You think I hurt Edgey! You... you're mean! You're so _mean_! I... I _hate_ you both! Yeah, I hate you! _Both_ of you! You..."

_CRACK!_

"AAAAUGH! _Franzy_!"

"Cease this foolishness, Larry Butz! We are here precisely because we do _not_ belive you to be guilty! We are aiming to prove your innocence so quit whining and cooperate!"

"Oh... ooooh. Well, why didn't you say so in the first place?" Back to being cheerful. "So, like I said, five to twenty minutes. No clue how long. You could ask the guy, the dude. The owner of the Tree Bean. I'm, like, pretty sure he remembers me."

He looked weirdly proud of that. Franziska rolled up her whip, the equivalent of sheathing a sword.

"Very well. One last question, then. When did you return the car?"

A moment of silence. Then...

"I... might not have returned it yet."

"You should probably do that. I think they'll charge you for that."

"WHAT?! Uh... _nice to have talked bye Nick bye Franzy gotta go now!_"

And with that, he ran off, leaving Franziska and Phoenix behind. The prosecutor chuckled.

"Well,I suppose one quick call to the restaurant in question should take care of this."

Her smile disappeared.

"Of course, that would leave us with merely one suspect..."

x

January 19, 04:00 PM

Prosecutor's Building

Sebastian's Office

x

Sebastian was busy writing something on his laptop when Apollo and Athena entered his office. He smiled at them.

"Oh, hi. Sorry, I don't really have time right now. Klavier's suffering from withdrawal symptoms now that he's trying to stop huffing and someone has to do his paperwork so..."

"Hate to interrupt, but this is pretty important.", Athena cut him off, "did you rent a car today?"

"What?"

"Did you rent a car today?", she repeated and Sebastian's confusion rang in her ears. "From Motorental Company."

"I... no! I don't need a car... I don't even have a licence!"

Apollo crossed his arms.

"Well, then I think you have a problem."

The prosecutor opened his mouth. Then he closed it, saved his document, turned his chair around and opened it again.

"Uh... okay, I'm listening. What's the big deal?"

"Do you know about Mr. Edgeworth's accident?"

Sebastian nodded. "Of course, Ms. von Karma alerted me. I was going to visit him, but..."

He glanced over to his laptop and shrugged.

"I see." Apollo hadn't said anything until now. "Well, the car that hit him was from Motorental Company. We went there for a chat and, well... you're one of the suspects."

"W-WHAT?! You... I... but... Mr. Justice, you can't really belive that..."

Aaaand cue the tears. Reasonable for once. Athena fished for a tissue, but Apollo was faster.

Actually... had he taken to carrying tissues around _just_ for Sebastian?

"No! No, no, we don't belive that at all! You didn't do anything! Calm down."

"T-that's r-right, I dint... didn't do it. Why... w-why am I being..."

"C-calm down!" She placed one hand on his shoulder.

"You're being suspected because there was a car rented on your name and if you're not the one who rented it, then that means..."

She stopped. But Apollo had picked up on her train of thought and finished it: "...that... someone is trying to set you up!"


	9. Chapter 9

January 19, 04:13 PM

Prosecutor's Building

Room 1113

x

"Is he showing any nervous ticks?", whispered Athena, keeping her eyes on Sebastian.

"Yeah, about seventy billion. Nothing out of the ordinary. What about you? Any weird emotions?"

"Just shock and fear, like expected. He's telling the truth."

"Of course he is! Sebastian is not a killer!"

He sounded seriously angry and Athena idly wondered if he'd yell if she'd try to push it. Shame she didn't have the time to try it right now... she turned back to Sebastian.

"If someone's trying to set you up, then you're in a tight situation here. You should probably head for the police station and tell them your story before something happens."

The prosecutor looked pretty nervous by now._Poor guy, this all came out of the blue for him..._

"Y... you're right. I'll go right now and...", Sebastian closed his laptop and reached for his jacket, "...go to the... that's odd."

"Hm? What is it, Sebastian?"

"My wallet isn't in my pocket anymore", the prosecutor stated, brows furrowed. "Maybe it's in my bag..."

He reached out for it and rummaged around for a moment. Then he looked up, confusion reflecting in his eyes.

"It's not here either."

"Maybe you took it out for something?", Apollo suggested, but Sebastian shook his head.

"No... then it should be on my desk. I used to lose it all the time when I was younger, so I take good care of it... I _never_ put it anywhere but my jacket pocket and my bag!"

"Could you have lost it?"

He shrugged. "I mean... I guess I must have? I sure hope I just left it at court... a-anyway, I'll head for the police station, yeah? Do... do you want to come along?"

"Sure, why not. Hang on, I'll message Mr. Wright, maybe they're done too, then we can meet."

She took out her phone and typed a quick message.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_Athena Cykes, 04:16: Sebastian says he never even rented a car._

_Athena Cykes, 04:16: We're heading for the police station now to get this cleared up. Where are you right now?_

_Phoenix Wright, 04:18: We are at the Trés Bien. Larry has an alibi. We're coming to the police station now. Wait up for us._

_Athena Cykes, 04:19: All right, we'll wait for you there._

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Putting her phone back into her pocket, she looked up to find that Apollo and Sebastian were both ready to leave, although Sebastian still looked puzzled over the disappearance of his wallet. She gave him a smile which she hoped to god was conforting and not condescending.

"Okay, can we leave?"

And so they left. They had to walk, since none of them owned a car, but the station wasn't too far away and they were all used to walking, so none of them minded... except Apollo, who whined for no reason every time Athena started to jog a little. For some reason Sebastian took his side, only to then challenge her to a race for the last few feet. She won, of course, and Sebastian ended up giving her a piece of gum as a prize. Apollo didn't bother to sprint and they had to wait a few minutes for him to catch up... and despite all that, they still arrived much earlier than Mr. Wright and Ms. von Karma.

_CRACK!_ "There you are. Very well, shall we?"

To their surprise, Detective Gumshoe was the one to greet them. What _was_ he doing here?!

"Ah, Scruffy."

Well... now he was busy quivering in fear.

"Ms... Ms. von Karma, Sir! Awaiting your orders!"

"Hmpf. What are you doing as of now?"

"Oh. Uhm..."

He pouted a little.

"Well... I've been asked to, uh... I mean... it's not like I suspect them, but I kind of... I mean... Sir!"

He caught himself and saluted, a little shaky still.

"As the Head Detective of the Criminal Affairs Department, Sir, it is my duty to give the police the data of every suspect, Sir! Even if I do not belive in their guilt, Sir!"

She shot a glare at him that rivalled the icyness of Edgeworth's famous stare. But then she shrugged.

"Indeed. It is nice to know that you chose to take your job seriously for once. Especially considering that _I_ will be the one to prosecute the accused... _whoever it may be._"

And this time, her glare hit Sebastian who stepped back, seemingly shrinking into the shadows as he cowered.

"Uh... ooookay..." Time to intercept before Apollo, who was starting to look seriously angry, decided to attack Ms. von Karma. If Athena was correct - and she was fairly certain she was - that would be the biggest and the last mistake her colleague would ever make. "Let's all just... calm down, okay? So, what did Mr. Butz tell you?"

Topic change. And the atmosphere softened instantly. Phoenix decided to speak up.

"He's innocent. At the time of the accident, he was at the Trés Bien wiping up some coffee he'd spilled. We talked to Mr. Armstrong, the owner, and not only did he remember, but so did two of the customers. Seems like it's not the Butz... for once. What about you, Sebastian?"

Silence. The prosecutor bit his lip.

"Well..."

Athena decided to take over for him. "Sebastian says he hasn't rented a car at all."

Sebastian nodded. "I don't have any use for a car! I don't even have a licence!"

Gumshoe didn't dare look Sebastian in the eyes. „I'm sorry, pal, but lack of a licence isn't really worth much in court, not like this. I mean, not like someone who breaks the law is gonna care for the law."

Ms. von Karma tugged her whip in thought.

"According to Adrian Andrews, a car can be rented online, by phone or in person. Proof of identity is required, though."

"Perhaps we should ask how the car in question was rented", suggested Phoenix and Franziska nodded.

"Precisely. Scruffy, that is your job. The rest of you may go do whatever you want. May I assume that one of you will be the defense once the trial begins?"

Were they? After all...

"I mean... if Larry ends up being accused, sure. Other than that, though... I mean..."

"I'll definitely defend you, Sebastian!", yelled Apollo and Sebastian actually looked extremely grateful. "Thank you, Mr. Justice. I just hope it won't be neccessary."

"Uhm... actually, pal..."

Gumshoe scratched his neck. He seemed clearly uncomfortable with this and mumbled a little as he spoke: "I mean... you don't have a real alibi, right? Nothing to, you know... prove that you didn't do it?"

A head shake. "No, not really. I walked back from court on my own, but I went home for a while before I returned to the office. I... no, I don't really have... proof..."

"That's what I was worried about, pal. There were only two real suspect, one of them has an alibi, so you..."

He didn't finish his sentence, just looked up at Sebastian like a sad puppy. Athena could hear the prosecutor's heart speeding up.

_CRACK!_ "_Foolish nonsense!_ You would do well to cease this foolishly foolish line of thinking right now and work on finding the _real_ culprint!"

The detective winced.

"Ms... Ms. von Karma, I... _AAARGH_!"

_CRACK!_ "Be silent! I demand a proper investigation!"

"Y-yes, Sir! Of course, Sir!"

But it was clear as day from the way Gumshoe looked at Sebastian that there wasn't much to hope for.

x

January 21, 10:44 AM

District Court

Defendant Lobby 2

x

And Gumshoe had been right, Apollo thought as he stared glumly at his papers. Even after two more days of investigation, there was still no other suspect and thus, poor Sebastian had been arrested. Of course Apollo had taken up defense, he'd promised that. But it didn't look good.

The woman from Motorental was probably going to be called in as a witness, too. And there was absolutely nothing for him to work with.

Sebastian sat on the couch, hugging his legs tightly. One of the guards had told him not to put his feet on the couch, but he'd ignored it.

What was he even supposed to say? God, chances were he'd set the record for the fastest guilty verdict ever!

"Trial starts in five minutes. If the defense and the defendant would please enter the courtroom..."

He couldn't even think of something comforting to say as they got up and resorted to giving Sebastian a pat on the shoulder. The prosecutor just smiled, tiredly.

However, when they stepped into the courtroom, a surprise was waiting for them: the prosecutor's bench was empty. And from the look on the judge's face, he was just as confused as Apollo and Sebastian were...

"Where is she? It's not like Ms. von Karma to be late...", whispered Sebastian, concern showing in his eyes and Apollo nodded. "True. It's weird that she..."

"If the defense and the defendant would kindly go to their respective seats..."

_Damn it. _"Of course, your Honor."

"Court is now in session for the trial of Sebastian D... hm."

The judge stopped and started to toy around with his gavel. "I seem to recall that this defendant habours a certain dislike towards his last name? It is unconventional, but I suppose as long as the paperwork is kept in order, we may just as well do him the favour. In that case, court is now in session for the trial of Sebastian. Is the defense ready?"

"The defense is ready, your Honor." _Oh, what a lie. _But he forced himself to smile.

"Is the prosecution ready?"

No response. The prosecution was not ready. The prosecution wasn't even there. The pr...

"The prosecution is _ready_, Herr Judge."

No way. That voice...

"Klavier, _you?!_"

The former rockstar stood in the doorway, panting and red in the face, but smirking as usual. He gave a quick salute to the judge, then strolled over to his bench... all casual, as if he had all the time in the world.

"Please excuse my lateness, ja? My hog gave up on the way here."

"Mr. Gavin! I seem to recall Ms. von Karma being the prosecutor in charge...", the judge asked, puzzled. Klavier grinned. "Ach, did no one inform you? My sincere apologies. You see, Frau von Karma has dropped the case. She refuses to prosecute on account of the fact that, and I may quote: 'Only a foolishly foolish fool wastes their time prosecuting a fool who is so clearly innocent.' It was quite hard to find a prosecutor to replace her, too. There's not a single soul withhin that office who belives our dearest Herr Erster to be guilty..."

"Except for you, huh?", growled Apollo. "Really, Gavin, I thought you were better than that."

"_Achtung_, Herr Forehead. _Watch what you are saying._"

Klavier's glare was harsh now and his smirk had turned into a frown. Uh oh. Okay, maybe that had been the wrong thing to say. What a way to start a trial, though.

"I don't have _any_ doubts that Herr Erster is innocent. If I were a defense attorney and not a prosecutor, I would most likely defend him. But a trial does need a prosecutor, ja? And a proper legal system does need a trial."

Apollo bit his lip. He was right, true, but it annoyed him anyway. Stupid Klavier, why did he have to be _right_ about it, too...

„Fine. Your Honor, I think we are ready."

„Ah, yes. Of course. Herr... uh, I mean, Mr. Gavin, your opening statement."

„Natürlich. Herr Miles Edgeworth, Chief Prosecutor, was hit by a car on Pinnacle Street. There is only one suspect. That suspect is our dear Herr Erster here, ja? Of course that is complete nonsense and Herr Forehead will surely prove that in a moment."

_Gee, thanks for the flowers, but I really don't think I will._ "I will try my best."

"Indeed. Now, the prosecution may call their first witness."

"Of course. I call Detective Gumshoe into the stand, then. Witness, please state your name and profession."

"Name's Dick Gumshoe, Head Detective of Criminal Affairs."

"Please testify, Detective."

Time for the testimony. Not that he was going to learn anything new from this. Think, Apollo. For the sake of... something!


	10. Chapter 10

January 21, 10:59 AM

District Court

Courtroom 1

x

"The accident happened on the 19th of January, at 11:16. The victim was... Mr. Edgeworth... _ahem_, sorry, Sir, got caught up... there were no witnesses to the accident. We, uhm, found some tire tracks which proved that the car in question was from Motorentals Company. According to the company in question, only two cars were rented at that time. But since one of the driver's has a fool-proof alibi, only... well, one suspect remains..."

Was there a twitch? Hard to tell, with Sebastian this close. What was he even supposed to do, cross-examine? What for?! There was nothing to work with!

Fine, he didn't have much of a choice. Sebastian _needed_ him, he was _innocent_.

"We can start the cross-examination, your Honor." For what's it worth...

"Uh, can you tell us more about the car and the company?", he asked, not sure what he was aiming for.

"Sure thing, pal! Like I said, the company is called Motorental Company. They specalize in renting out motorized vehicles. It's a very old company and they have their own brand of tires, headlights and hub caps."

"Could you tell us how exactly one goes about renting a car?"

Ah, now he knew what he was aiming for. He was aiming to stall for time.

"You can rent by phone, online or in person, pal. When you go get the car, you need to prove your identity."

"Prove of identity. Like?"

Gumshoe shrugged.

"Passport, I guess. Or maybe driver's licence."

Hang on. "OBJECTION! The defendant has lost his wallet! He doesn't have his passport as of now!"

True. Poor Sebastian had still not managed to find his wallet.

"OBJECTION! Do you have any proof?"

Of course he hadn't. How did you even prove something like that?

"And... the person who rented this car did give proof of identity. Their passport. Correct?"

A nod. "Yeah. And before you ask, it was definitely Mr. Sebastian's passport. And most definitely Mr. Sebastian who carried the passport, too, pal. Asked Ms. Andrews again and she described him."

_What_?! Why hadn't he heard of that?! "S-she... she described him?! Are you sure?!"

"Down to the baton, pal."

In the defendant's seat, Sebastian clutched the cherry tree baton in question. Crying, of course. Apollo pondered for a moment, then he made a desicion and took his bracelet off. If Sebastian kept going like that, it would probably end up breaking his wrist.

"Well, Herr Forehead? Don't you have anything else?!"

In every other situation, that would have been taunting, but Klavier sounded genuinenly concerned.

"Uh... the, the... oh! Mr. Edgeworth was picked up by an ambulance, right?! When did that ambulance a... rrive..."

Wait a moment. Something was very, very wrong here...

"About twelve minutes after the incident, pal. 11:28."

That... was interesting. And just like that, a glint of hope.

"And... when were they _alerted_?"

"Oh, 11:15."

"**OBJECTION!**"

**SLAMMED** his hands onto the desk and **YELLED** his objection into the room as the little glint of hope burst into a ball of light_ this was the thing he'd been looking for, this was it!_

"THEN WHY IS THE PERSON WHO CALLED THEM NOT HERE AS A WITNESS?!"

The detective winced as if a certain someone had whipped him. On the other side of the room, Klavier punched the wall in a sudden outburst of joy. Mumbles arose in the gallery and were quickly silenced by the judge.

"Order! I will have order... Detective! Explain yourself to the court this instant!"

"A... AAHH! Y-yes, your Honor, Sir!" He saluted, quite shaky. "It... It wasn't possible! The person who called that ambulance stayed anonymous! We only know her gender, Sir, from her voice! No signs of her identity!"

An anonymous ambulance caller?

"So... is that why she isn't here today as a witness."

"Yeah, exactly, pal. How are we supposed to find her? She didn't even leave fingerprints on the payphone she used. I mean... we don't have a clue who she is. Or where!"

And then, a female voice from the gallery.

"Ya'll oughta keep yer eyes more open. I reckon she's right here!"

A woman climbed down from the gallery, shoved a bailiff aside and planted herself right at the witness stand, looking very pround of herself. Apollo hadn't seen her before... the southern accent and the gigantic, flaming red afro would have stayed in his memory for sure. The judge, on the other hand...

"That is quite the familiar face. Ms. Hart, wasn't it? Now, now, are you telling us..."

"Yep, ya'll sure bet I am. Me's the one who called that there ambulance, ya'll hear that!?"

With a snap, she brought up her camera and Apollo was momentarily blinded by a bright flash as she shot a picture of him.

"Here ya go, attorney, this here photo's gonna be one big part of me next scoop. All righty then, me's a-fixin' to testify!"

"_E... excuse me_?!"

That had been Klavier, who apparently didn't know what was going on either. He stared at her in utter confusion. Then his eyes widened. "Hey! I _know_ you! You tried to..."

He didn't finish that sentence, but the woman gave a nervous grin. "Aw, ya still remember that there snooping little ol' me did? I done apologized for that, yeah? Sorry. So, you wanna hear me out? 'Cos I'm ready to share my info now that my scoop's safe!"

The prosecutor opened his mouth, closed it, then sighed.

"Name and profession, Fräulein?"

"Lotta Hart. Photographer searching the world for somethin' worthy o' being photographed."

Another snap, another flash. This time she'd snapped a picture of Klavier, who - being the star he was - actually struck a pose for her. She gave him a thumbs-up.

The judge coughed. "So... I suppose, if neither the prosecution nor the defense have a problem with this witness..."

"The prosecution doesn't mind a bit."

"Neither does the defense." She _was_ his shining ball of hope, after all.

"Okay then, here it goes. So, me was on me way to the park to go searchin' fer scoops, yeah? Took a lil' roundabout route through Pinnacle street there 'cause there's them bakery down there and I coulda gone for a piece o' cake to keep me spirit's high and mighty. I'm walkin' behind this guy and suddenly I think, hey, you know that there man, that's the Chief Prosecutor! So I done stayed all quiet, 'cause ya'll know I been searchin' for some good ol' scandal and you oughta keep yer eyes on the big guys fer that. He ain't noticed me, too, so I went and followed for a while when suddenly, WHAM!"

She spread out her arms and hit the poor bailiff in the face.

"Car comes outta nowhere an' hits him right in the back. That there car went straight off the street just to hit him. Driver musta been nuts!"

"HOLD IT! You..." An icy cold shiver ran over Apollo's back. "You mean... that this accident..."

"Accident? Ya'll done gone stupid if ya'll think that was an accident. That coulda been an accident only if the driver was completely blind!"

_Not an accident._

_On purpose._

_Someone hit Mr. Edgeworth with a car and it was on purpose._

Behind him, Sebastian whimpered like an abandoned dog. Klavier was hunched over, sweat collecting on his cheeks. Apollo himself could feel his hands shivering.

"You... Fräulein Hart, you... did... a look... driver...?", Klavier managed to gasp, quivering behind his bench. And the photographer grinned.

"A look, ya say? Why, I reckon I got meself a picture o' them!"

Loudness. The judge called for order and didn't get it, but Apollo hardly cared. A picture... of the driver?!

"You... Ms. Hart! You need to show us this picture!"

"Sure will. Got it right here for ya'll to see!"

And she held out a photograph, clear for the world to see.

And the little gleam of hope flickered and died.

"Why, that is a very good picture, Ms. Hart. I 'reckon' this is the best one you have ever shown to this court."

"Aw, shucks, thanks, yer Honor. I got me a new camera."

The picture _was_ good. It was shot from behind and a little lopsided, but the driver was still clear to see. They were in the act of turning around, glancing over their shoulder back at the person they had no doubt just hit. That resulted in a pretty good view of their profile.

Apollo would have given his tongue for this picture to be blurry.

The driver was, clear as day... Sebastian.

"OBJECTION!"

That was Klavier, nearly breaking the bench as he hit it, not just once but several times. "I... I object... because... of objecting!"

"Overruled. Prosecutor Gavin, may I remind you that you are here to prosecute?"

SLAM! "I'm here to figure out the truth, not to get a guilty verdict for an innocent coworker of mine!"

"K-klavier, please..."

But Klavier didn't even hear Sebastian's weak whimper. He was fuming, Apollo had never seen him this angry before. He looked like he was just about to choke the unlucky photographer.

"You... that picture is a fake! A farce!"

"Oi, watch yer mouth, pretty boy! I ain't none of them no-good fakers, me scoops are mighty real!"

"Nonsense! This picture is nothing but lies!"

And as they continued arguing, Apollo snatched up the picture.

There was no doubting it, the man in this picture was clearly Sebastian. His hairdo, his outfit, even the white baton tucked into his breast pocket. There was no doubting it, but the expression on the man's face...

It was so... cold. An icy stare. It wasn't the shocked expression of a bad driver or the confused look of a clueless, accident-prone man, not even the demented grin of a killer. It was... _nothing_. It was the look of a man who was glancing over his shoulder to make sure that his job had been _done_.

Apollo pulled his jacket tighter. In doing so, he knocked his bracelet, which he'd simply placed on the bench after taking it off, to the ground and had to bend down to pick it up. He slipped it back on, no need to risk forgetting it.

When he came back up, the judge had joined the argument between Klavier and Ms. Hart, trying to get them to calm down. It was... not working.

"If you could please..."

"Ya better shut yer beak, ya hear that, or I reckon I gotta git real angry!"

"I am not shutting anything! Well, ja, I am: I am _shutting you up_, witness! You, above forging pictures?! Do you have proof of that?!"

"I'll give ya proof, ya nuthead! First o' all, that's illegal and I ain't done anything illegal in me life. Second..."

"Nothing illegal?! May i remind you again, _Fräulein_, that you _snuck into my_..."

"Ah apologized fer that! How much times ya want me to repeat that!? I oughta do it again, though, because..."

"You just admitted to planning an illegal act in court! I'll sue you for that, ja?! Oh, but I'm such a nice guy. I'll take that back if you _kindly just admit to faking this picture_!"

"Ya'll hear him?! Him's trying to get me to lie on the stand, that there is one rude prosecutor if I ever seen one! Ain't any of ya'll gonna do somethin'?"

"I am trying! Mr. Gavin, I understand that you are upset, but..."

"No, you don't! Listen, I _know_ this picture has to be false, we need to get this out of the way now so that we can continue with this trial and..."

"Mr. Gavin, unless you have any proof that this picture is, indeed, a fake, I must ask you to stop pestering the witness and return to your bench. We will resume the trial and..."

"_**ACH, HALT DIE FRESSE!**_", Klavier hollered at the top of his lungs. Only a second later, he slammed his hand over his mouth in horror and recoiled, staring up at the judge with dread-filled eyes.

There was a moment of silence. Then a growl from the judge, serious and harsh: "Care to _translate_ that, Prosecutor Gavin?"

A panicked headshake.

"Hmpf. Prosecutor Gavin, you are hereby removed from this case."

"W... whht?!", it came from somewhere behind the prosecutor's shivering hands. The judge shook his head.

"You heard me very well, Mr. Gavin, and you can be happy if you just lose this case and not your job. I will mention this to Mr. Edgeworth in due time. You may leave."

Klavier hesitated. But then, after giving Sebastian one last glance, he turned around and left, his head lowered and his eyes fixed on the floor.

The door closed behind him and the judge pounded his gavel one more time, mumbling something into his beard.

"Well, then. Without a prosecutor this trial can not continue."

Yes! That meant more time for investigation, time for him to figure out the truth behind the picture! It meant...

"Seeing this picture, I have little doubt that the accused is, in fact, guilty. In fact, I belive I might just as well hand down a verdict now."

No! That couldn't... he couldn't be serious! Apollo wanted to object, he formed the first syllable and then someone else objected before he could say anything.

"O-OBJECTION!"


	11. Chapter 11

January 21, 11:39 AM

District Court

Courtroom 1

x

"Now who was that?", the judge asked, looking around the room. "Who voiced an objection right there?"

"Uh... me."

Apollo's mouth fell open.

"Sebastian? You..."

Sebastian nodded, fiddling with his fingers as he mumbled something.

"Defendant, please speak a little louder."

"I... would like to take Mr. Gavin's place, if that is alright."

He wanted to do_ what?!_ "Mr. Sebastian! Are you saying you... wish to prosecute _yourself_?!"

"Yes, your Honor. We can't continue this trial unless we have a prosecutor. And I am a prosecutor. And I want this trial to continue. Therefore..."

There... there was a certain logic to it, self-destructive as it was. Apollo looked up to the judge, feigning convidence.

"The defense has no objections, your Honor."

"I... I say! Even for this court, that is highly unusual. However, I suppose... technically..."

"Thank you, your Honor", Sebastian said and left the defendant's seat to head for the prosecutor's bench, accompanied by stunned silence.

"The prosecution is ready, your Honor."

The judge nodded. "But I must admit, I still see no reason to continue this trial. We have decisive evidence proving the defendant's guild and... Mr. Sebastian, please be aware that if you wish to prosecute, you cannot willingly take any actions that would benefit the defendant."

Sebastian bit his lip and lowered his arm.

"Therefore, unless the defense finds a contradiction of any kind..."

Contradictions? There was nothing there! Sebastian knew that to, he had to know, with the way he was turning his baton and...

Apollo's bracelet was... doing absolutely nothing.

Not a nervous twitch. Sebastian was playing with his baton on purpose! But why...

"Mr. Justice? Do you have an objection or not?"

Think, Apollo! What is there about Sebastian's baton that...

And then he saw it.

There, in the picture, clear as day... a contradiction!

"HOLD IT! Your Honor, I DO have an objection! There is something seriously wrong with this image!"

"Oh? Please be more specific, Mr. Justice."

"It's simple. If you look at this picture, you will notice that the person depicted there is carrying something in his breast pocket."

The judge raised one eyebrow, but he reached for the picture and looked over it.

"Why yes, he does appear to be carrying a conductor's stick. And?"

On the other side of the room, Sebastian punched the sky in glee and Apollo suddenly felt very, very relived that he had come to the conclusion Sebastian wanted.

"Your Honor, if you would kindly describe that stick to the court?"

"Well, it appears to be a simple white conductor's stick with a brown hilt and tip. It seems to me that it is retractable."

"Correct. Now, if you would please describe the baton currently in the defendant's posession?"

"Now, it is... AH!"

A sound of surprise.

"It... it looks nothing like the one in this picture!"

SLAM! "EXACTLY!"

Hit that bench! "That is proof that the person in this picture is not the defendant!"

"OBJECTION! Mr. Justice, can you prove that I do not have a second baton, one like the one in the photo?"

This... this was so surreal. But Sebastian winked at him and of course Apollo could counter this, of course.

"Why, yes. I do belive I was there when you broke this baton. And I can name several other people who were also there. Including Mr. Edgeworth himself, actually."

Ms. Hart, who had been surprisingly quiet during the past few minutes, decided to chime in: "That picture there's 100% correct, ya'll. Ain't no messed-up colors in there!"

"That's great to hear, Ms. Hart. Do you think you could make some copies of this picture, perhaps enlarge it?"

"Reckgiven I can! Hand it back over and give me ten minutes and I oughta get this 'lil thing tripled in size with just a teeny loss o' quality."

"Very well, Ms. Hart. You will do so, then. Bailiff, please escort this lady outside so that she may enlarge this picture. In the meantime, the prosecution may call their next witness."

"What?", asked Sebastian, confused for a second before he dug through the papers Mr. Gavin had left behind. "Oh, there's another witness. The prosecution would like to call... Ms. Adrian Andrews to the stand."

Yeah, that was her. He'd checked the case files and yes, she had been not in one, but in two of Mr. Wright's cases.

"Witness, please state your name and occupation."

"I am Adrian Andrews, employee of Motorental Company."

"And I came to you in order to rent a car. Correct?"

"Yes. Yes, you did.", she said, nodding. "I am sure of it."

_Great. That was the last thing we wanted to hear. _

"Could you tell us what exactly happened, Ms. Andrews?"

"Of course. It was at, ah... 11:45, I think. The young man came up to me and told me that he wanted to rent a basic car. I asked him to fill out our form, as is the law. I have a copy of it here, if you want..."

"Ah, how clever of you to provide one. The court accepts this into evidence."

Apollo glanced down at it. It seemed simple enough... name, date of birth, adress, phone number, e-mail, bank data... ah, there was the part where they tried to trick you into allowing them to bombarde you with prospects. It looked nice and he did recognize Sebastian's signature, unfortunally.

"After he'd filled it out, I filed it and took him outside to his car. I provided him with his keys and returned inside. That is all. I'm sorry I can't tell you more..."

"Uh-huh. And..."

"Excuse me, Mr. Justice, can I interrupt you? Witness, did I have a baton with me at that time?"

"Ah? Of course..."

Sebastian smiled and hid his baton behind his bench. "And what color was it?"

"I think it was... white, y-yes?" She pulled her sleeve and Apollo smiled.

"Thank you, Sebastian. That was one of the three things I wanted to ask. The second being... Ms. Andrews, are you _sure_ that nothing else happened?"

"H-huh? Why are you..."

"I don't even need my bracelet to see that tick. You are extremely nervous. Please tell us the truth."

She swallowed hard. "Well... I don't think it is very important... but when he came in, I had just finished oiling the Motorcycles and, well... I just put the bottle of oil on my desk. And when I got up to lead him to his car, well... I accidentally knocked the bottle over, spilling some oil on his jacket. He just laughed it off, luckily, but I felt rather bad..."

"OBJECTION!"

Apollo couldn't help but grin. This was going so much better than he'd expected! If it kept going like this, who knew...

He might just prove Sebastian innocent after all. Warmth bloomed inside as he smiled as his client slash opponent, his little light of hope rising high once again.

"Your Honor, the defendant's jacket is completely spotless!"

"Mr. Justice, please. Several days have passed since the crime. He might have washed it..."

"OBJECTION! Even then, we would at least be able to smell it! But please! If the defendant would hand his jacket over to someone so we can test it for oil residue. We might need to interrupt the trial for..."

"Nah, just leave it to me."

Ema hopped from the gallery. Apollo hadn't even seen her.

"You're in luck, Mr. Justice. I just got here from the 09:45 trial, but I have all my equipment with me. I can check him for oil residue right here and now! Spread out your arms, yes?"

The judge looked down at her, in deep thought, then nodded.

"Well, seeing how this young lady is willing to help, I see no reason to refuse her. Please, go ahead."

She pulled out a spray bottle, bigger than the one she used for luminol.

"This spray can detect the type of oil used for vehicles of any kind. It can also detect kerosene.", she narrated as she headed for the prosecutor's bench. "What part of his jacket got covered in oil?"

"The chest area... the left side, mostly..."

Ema sprayed some of her testing fluid over Sebastian, who closed his eyes to keep the fumes out. And then...

Absolutely nothing happeded.

Apollo turned towards the judge.

"There you see it, your Honor. There's no oil on this jacket."

"Hm. I see. Is there perhaps a chance that the defendant is currently wearing a different, but similar jacket?", asked the judge who had apparently decided to take up prosecuting. And speaking of prosecution...

"OBJECTION! Your Honor, I can promise to you that I have this jacket only. It's given only to the best student of the Themis Legal Academy and no one can have more than one of it."

"Is that so? But one might still buy a jacket which resembles yours in looks, correct? Or perhaps the witness is simply mistaken..."

"**Hey ya'll, I got me a picture enlarged!**"

Lotta had thrown the large courtroom doors open with a smash and waved at them, grinning.

"Here, ya oughta have yerself a look! Gives ya a nice clear view of his baton..."

Apollo snatched the picture from her hand. "Yes! That, _and_ of the left side of his jacket! Do you see the oil there, your Honor?!"

"Y-yes... it's _covered _in oil!"

"Exactly! The witness was _not_ mistaken! And yet it is _clearly_ the exact same jacket the defendant is currently wearing! Thank you, Ms. Hart. Ms. Andrews, one more question!"

The woman winced.

"Ah! Y-yes?"

"When the defendant or rather, someone _pretending_ to be the defendant, came to fetch his car, how did you adress him?"

She blinked. "W-what? I, uh... by his name?"

He grinned. "And his name is?"

"Mr. Justice, I don't quite see how..."

"Trust me, your Honor. That question has solved another case in the past. If I remember correctly, then we have not mentioned his name once ever since Ms. Andrews came into the room. She therefore will have to rely on her memory."

He turned back towards her and tapped the desk.

"So, Ms. Andrews. Please tell me, how did you adress the defendant?"

She looked at him, then over to Sebastian, then back to Apollo.

"W-well... like I said... his name. I called him Mr. Debeste because..."

Several things happened at once. The judge smashed his gavel one time to many, it slipped from his hand and Ema had to jump aside in order to dodge it. In doing that, she tripped over her feet and stumbled into the poor abused bailiff. Lotta brought up her camera and frantically tried to catch everything and everyone on film. The people in the gallery where basically screaming now and the poor judge, no longer armed with a gavel, had to pound his desk with his fist in an hapless attempt to silence them. In the middle of this chaos, poor Ms. Andrews stood, clutching her shoulders trying to figure out what, precisely, she had done wrong. And all this was accentuated by Sebastian, the only silent person in the room, freezing on the spot, assuming a thousand yard stare as he looked right through Apollo at something only he could see.

"Order! ORDER! **ORDER**!"

It was hopeless. No one was even listening to the poor judge. Apollo felt amazing.

He slammed the desk and yelled, his chords of steel managing to drown out the noise.

"THE BATON HAS THE WRONG COLOR, HIS JACKET ISN'T OILSTAINED AND AS YOU CAN SEE, MY CLIENT CAN'T DEAL WITH BEING CALLED BY HIS LAST NAME! YOUR HONOR, IT IS OBVIOUS THAT MY CLIENT IS _**NOT**_ THE ONE WHO ATTACKED MR. EDGEWORTH!"

"**ORDER!**"


	12. Chapter 12

January 21, 12:27 AM

District Court

Courtroom 1

x

Finally, after what seemed like hours, the noise died down. Ema climbed up to the judge and handed him his gavel back. He looked extremely relived.

"Well, now that we have all calmed down... I find myself inclined to agree with Mr. Justice here. While we have no lead as to who this impersonator is, it is most definitely not the defendant. Therefore, I belive it is about time to pronounce a verdict. Does the prosecution have any objec... oh, right. The prosection _is_ the defendant."

"And has no objections, your Honor", said Sebastian, still stiff from the shock he'd gone through mere seconds ago. For once, there was a good reason for his face to be tearstained. But he seemed to be stable for now. Well, of course he was, he was about to be pronounced innocent...

_I can't belive I did that. I can't belive we did that. That was a Turnabout and a pretty damn fine one, too. Phoenix Wright style. Aka crazy overly lucky lunatic style. I can't belive the amount of luck it took for this._

"Very well. I hereby pronounce the defendant... NOT GUILTY."

Apollo closed his eyes, locking out the sight of confetti raining down on them. A tension he hadn't even been aware off was lifted from his shoulders. His heart was racing. _God_, his heart was racing.

Someone tapped his shoulder. He opened his eyes and looked up to find that it was Sebastian, grinning broadly.

"Come on up, Apollo. Trial's over. Oh... Ms. Hart, Ms. Skye, Ms. Andrews!"

The three women turned around with a mix of "Y-yes?", "Yeah?" and "Hm?"

Sebastian bowed. "I'd like to thank you. You really helped me. Can I invite you over for a cup of coffee?"

Ms. Andrews nodded. "Oh, yes. It's my day off today, so..."

Lotta grinned. "Sure thing, y'all, as long as you're payin'!"

And finally, Ema shrugged. "Why not. Is Mr. Justice coming along?"

"That depends on him, I'd say. What do you think, Apollo?"

"Huh?" It took him a second to realize a question had been asked. "Oh. Yeah, thanks."

"Say, where did the fop go?"

Klavier.

Apollo stopped dead in his tracks. Where _had _Klavier gone? Apollo had no clue what the prosecutor had yelled earlier, but it hadn't been a compliment. He could lose his job over this! Fuck, what was Apollo supposed to do then?

"I'll check out the prosecutor's lobby. Hang on a sec."

Sebastian disappeared into the hallway, leaving Apollo and the three women behind. After about ten minutes he returned, an awkwardly smiling Klavier trailing behind him. Apollo smiled.

"Hey, Mr. Gavin. Are you going to be fine? What did you even yell earlier?"

The response was a nervous chuckle. "Well, ach... nothing you should say in front of so many Fräulein, ja? But I belive I will be fine. Mr. Blackquill was in the lobby when I came in and I think he took pity on me, because he offered to talk with the judge in my place... I can just hope... oh, and please forgive me, Ms. Hart. It appears that I was wrong in calling your picture a fake after all. Any way for me to make it up to you?"

"Well, fer starters ye oughta pay me for that enlarged picture, I had to pay to use that there copy machine. Other than that, nah, ain't nothin' a real scoop hunter's not expectin' to deal with."

"Are you all ready? Let's go, then."

Sebastian led them to a cute little café near the court, a sweet little place kept completely in turquoise, aqua and light grey. They found themselves a small table inside and placed their orders: A small cup of espresso for Ms Andrews, a glass of iced tea for Ms. Hart, a glass of orange juice for Ms. Skye, a really fancy flavoured coffee-thing for Klavier and a cup of tea for Sebastian. Apollo went with normal coffee.

"So,", Klavier started, sipping his drink, "congratulations on your victory, Herr Forehead and congratulations to you, Herr Erster, for getting off the hook."

"Thank you. It looked tough a few times, but..."

"Yeah, 'bout that."

Lotta Hart wrapped the strap of her camera around her finger. "I mean... don't get me wrong, I got me enough info to write somethin' up, but I oughta ask ya if ya ain't forgettin' somethin' here."

"What do you mean?"

Ema sighed. "She means the culprint, Justice. We still don't know who is actually responsible for Mr. Edgeworth's injury."

Oh. Oh yeah...

"Who would want to hurt Mr. Edgeworth?", asked Ema angrily, her hands clutched around her glass.

"Many people, I reckon", Ms. Hart said. "Thing 'bout bein' a prosecutor is, you're fixin' to get into trouble. I mean, he oughta have some criminals after him with all the bad guys he got done with."

"She's right." That was Sebastian, glaring down into his tea as if he, by looking just hard enough, could find the answer to his problems floating withhin the brown liquid. "If you spend bringing justice to criminals, then eventually you will end up with a bunch of criminals who hate you. Not a healthy situation."

He glanced aside and Apollo remembered their previous case, the one involving Sebastian's own father. His stomach felt heavy. Being a prosecutor... it was a dangerous life to lead, wasn't it? And people like Mr. Wright, or Athena... or heck, Apollo himself, they, too...

He shuddered. If that was the reason behind this attack, then more were sure to follow. One could only hope...

"...promise you that this man looked exactly like you, Mr. D... uh, Sebastian", said Ms. Andrews and her voice snapped Apollo out of his thoughts. "I was certain that you were him when I saw you in the courtroom."

"And you got me picture to prove you right! Ya'll oughta admit that this here sure looks like him."

"Will you be writing an article about it, Ms. Hart?"

She grinned. "Naturally. Ain't gonna go and waste my sweet scoop now am I? Unless you got a damn good reason fer me to hang back a lil' longer, but I reckon there ain't no such thing."

"Actually..."

Apollo stopped. "Could you do me a favour? Don't mention that the attacker got Mr. Sebastian's name wrong."

"Huh? What's that got to do with anything?"

"A lot."

The defense attorney's mind raced. That was their best lead right now, wasn't it? "Because it's fairly common knowledge that Mr. Sebastian doesn't use his last name, at least after that last case he was involved with. Right now, the criminal doesn't know that, so we shouldn't tell them."

"Hm." She nodded. "All righty then, I'll keep quiet 'bout that fer you. Ya owe me one, yeah?"

"Fine. Thank you, Ms. Hart."

Klavier had been uncharacteristically quiet, Apollo noticed. Maybe he was worried still about losing his job? Perhaps later he'd ask Athena to translate what the Prosecutor had said. Then again, perhaps not. But now the former rockstar sighed. "I am worried about this, ja? We need to figure this out quickly."

"Agreed", Sebastian nodded. "This criminal might try again. Mr. Edgeworth needs to be careful."

"It's not just that", Klavier answered glumly. "Mr. Edgeworth is the Chief Prosecutor. If he gets killed or injured to the point where he can no longer work, our entire freshly-repaired legal system goes down the drain."

Apollo tried not to think too hard about that possibility. But Ema decided to investigate. "Just out of curiosity, who would be next in line? Who gets to be Chief Prosecutor if Mr. Edgeworth goes down?"

Oh, now that was interesting... maybe that was the thought behind it? Although it sickened Apollo that someone might murder for a simple promotion, it was definitely possible...

"Good question", Klavier mumbled, fingers tapping a catchy rhythm. "Ms. von Karma has the most experience, but she's not technically a part of the office, seeing how she usually works in Germany. Besides, I doubt that she has the time."

Ms. Andrews coughed. "Apologies, but Mr... Sebastian was Mr. Edgeworth's protege, was he not? Surely he would be...", but Sebastian interrupted her with a laugh. "No, I'm not nearly good enough for that. How about Mr. Blackquill?"

"After 7 years in prison? I doubt it, Herr Erster. Considering that, I suppose that the only person who could take over would be... uh, me." Klavier blinked. So much for that theory, then. Klavier was definitely _not_ the culprint.

"Maybe we can get some help from Ms. von Karma. She's got ties to Interpol", suggested Ema and Apollo nodded. "Good idea, but Im pretty sure she's already on the case. I mean... I can't imagine that she isn't."

"True, but then we should at least talk to her. Ask her what exactly she is doing. And figure out if we can help. And most importantly, Herr Forehead, figure out how not to get in her way, ja? I'm very fond of my skin. I like the way it attaches to my body."

"Oi, that was that there woman with the whip, right? Nah, me would keep away from that if I were you", Lotta chimed in and Apollo winced as he imagined the sharp sting of von Karma's whip.

"...Yes. Let's make 100 percent sure that we don't get in her way. Ever."

"Nice to know we agree on that."

"I will definitely get Athena and Mr. Wright in on this, though", Apollo stated, placing his now empty mug on the table. "Thank you for the invite, Mr. Sebastian, but I'll head back to the office now."

x

January 21, 02:46 PM

Wright Anything Agency

x

"Couldn't you bring better news than that?", Phoenix asked, looking down at Apollo's notes. "I'd have prefered _not_ to hear that someone's actively trying to murder my best friend."

He sighed and put the notes down. "This is worrying. Edgeworth is pretty unprotected right now, seeing how he is stuck at the hospital still. If someone attacks him there then..."

"Relax. Mr. Sebastian went to inform Ms. von Karma and Detective Gumshoe knows, too. There are at least five armed police men guarding him. Plus Ms. von Karma herself."

Phoenix breathed a sigh of relief. "That is good to know. Still, do me a favour and don't tell Trucy about this. I don't really want her to know that uncle Edgeworth is in danger." And she would be upset, definitely. Edgeworth was, for all intents and purposes, a family member to her. Heaven knew that the girl had seen enough family problems for a lifetime...

Athena coughed. "We don't really have many leads, do we?"

"If by 'not many' you mean zero, yes."

"And how are we going to change that?" She pulled her ear ring. "I'd like to talk with Ms. Andrews."

"Me too", Phoenix agreed. "I know her and I don't think she would willingly lie, but I do know her to be accident-prone. She's always been a good source of evidence and information."

"Ms. Hart agreed to send us her article when she's done with it. She doesn't know how long it will take, but we'll get to read it as soon as it's finished."

"Great job, Apollo. Has one of you looked through the evidence and files?"

"No, but Mr. Gavin is going to do that this evening, provided that he still has a job by then. By the way, Athena, you'll need to translate something for me later."

"Oh?" She blinked. "Is it related to the case?"

"Not really, no. But as for things related to the case, that was pretty much it. We have so little clues, it's somewhat frustrating."

"It is. And that..." Athena stopped.

"What? What is it?"

"That is in itself a clue...", she whispered and looked up sharply. "Think about it. A full disguise, a well-thought out plan, hardly any evidence left behind. Doesn't that sound like the culprint might be experienced? Might know about how crimes work?"

"You mean a seasoned criminal?"

"Possibly, yes. And in that case, we get another pretty important clue..."

Phoenix smiled. "Namely?"

"A person who knows much about crime would also know a bit about the legal system, if only for self-protection. Alternatively, they would know about other big crimes, especially recent ones. In other words... they would know that Mr. Sebastian doesn't use his last name, that is not exactly a secret. So... the culprint..."

Apollo finished the sentence for her: "...is someone who is not from here."


	13. Chapter 13

January 24, 10:27 AM

Exposé Park

x

But no matter what they did, nothing seemed to work. Neither Ms. Hart nor Ms. Andrews was able to tell them anything they didn't know already and neither Detective Gumshoe nor Ms. Skye had found any more clues. Mr. Edgeworth was in the hospital still and both Gumshoe and Ms. von Karma refused to let him be alone for a second without someone guarding him.

Three days had passed and so far, the culprint had not attacked again.

"Maybe it was a one-of-a-time thing", Apollo suggested. He and Mr. Wright had just returned from yet another visit to the police station and now they found themselves at the park, sitting together clueless as could be. "Maybe they're not going to attack again."

"That doesn't make sense", Phoenix answered, glaring off into the distance. "Why try it, then? In such a well-planned manner, too?"

"That is also weird, you know? I mean, it looks so... coincidental at first. Just a guy getting hit by someone. But there's so much... so much thought behind it. That is confusing..."

"It is. But that also explains why they haven't tried again."

"You mean the culprint is still planning?"

Phoenix nodded. "Probably. Edgeworth is pretty well-protected right now. It would be hard to attack him while he is guarded by the police and Ms. von Karma."

"Let's hope their protection won't be necessary. We..."

"Oh my, good morning, Mr. Wright."

Phoenix glanced up to find himself face to face with a highly recognizable person. She wore a dress now and her beret was missing, but the high amount of green gave her away instantly. Really, how green could one person even be?

"Ms... Lawes, was it? Good morning."

She bowed, a quick, proper bow. "It's quite a pleasure to see you again."

"I agree. Have you managed to sneak a peek at the police station?"

Apollo made room for her on the bench and she sat down next to them.

"Indeed I did, and I have you to thank for it. The good Detective Gumshoe was very much willing to show me around."

She chuckled, but then frowned. "Although I must admit, the other policemen and detectives did not seem happy about it..."

"Oh, that, uh... don't worry about that", Phoenix sputtered and Apollo took over: "What are you planning to do now?"

She shrugged and nearly dropped her glasses. "I am unsure, to be honest. I've visited everything I desired, yet my plane to England goes in four days and I still have time.. Perhaps I shall simply watch a few more trials. Is it true what I have heard? The Chief Prosecutor has been attacked?"

Concerned eyes looked up at Phoenix, waiting for an answer.

"...Yes, that... that is true.", he said slowly. Her knowing about it wasn't exactly unexpected. Lotta's article had been puplished by now and if Apollo's words were anything to go by, she was on cloud nine now that she had finally managed a real scoop. True to her words, however, she had not written a word about what had finally proved Mr. Sebastian's innocence. In fact, the whole part about what had happened in court was written simple and fast, like a short summary.

No wonder, then, that Ms. Lawes was curious. She was an attorney, after all... courtroom proceedings were what interested her.

Phoenix wondered how the british law system worked. Maybe she had the right idea with this whole "vacation" thing. It certainly sounded interesting...

"...must admit, I did not expect the law system here to be so, well, so... I may assume, of course, that such an important person being attacked is not the norm...?", he caught, her sentence ending with the smallest hint of a question mark. Apollo shrugged. "To be honest, it kind of is. People are attacked and accused all the time. Even important... especially important people."

She looked somewhat confused. Phoenix leaned over to say something and caught a whiff of her parfume, a smoky scent. Weird...

"Maybe you can find a contradiction here? We need all the help we can get."

He handed her the case files. Seconds later, Apollo grabbed his shoulder and hissed: "What are you _doing_?!"

Phoenix winced and wriggled free after a moment of shock. "Look, she's an attorney, right? The more people we get on this case, the better. What, are you worried she might be involved? She doesnt even know Edgeworth!"

"...Yes, but still. Asking Ms. Hart to keep quiet is going to be pretty useless if we just tell everybody anyway."

He was right, but Ms. Lawes had, in fact, found something.

"This criminal was well-informed", she said. "From reading this, I would say that choosing to disguise as this, uh... oh my, Sebastian, that was the prosecutor for the case I witnessed, right? Well, I do belive that choosing to disguise as him was a last-minute decision."

"Oh? How comes?" No way, were they really going to get info out of this?

"As I just said", she began to explain, cleaning her glasses as she spoke, "the culprint was well-imformed, yet it is stated here that they got the name of their own disguise wrong. Thus my guess would be that their original plan did not involve this young prosecutor. Otherwise, they would surely have known and used the correct name."

Apollo smashed his fist into his open palm. "Of course! But then what was the original plan? And..."

"...why didn't they use it", Phoenix interrupted, stealing his subordinates words. He was the boss here, he was supposed to figure out the important things! Unless he could give the task to an unrelated brit, of course, but he refused to dwell on... that parfume was _really_ strong. It went all the way into his brain and smoked up his thoughts. She hadn't worn that the last time he'd seen her...

"We can also conclude that, while the change in plan was sudden, it happened at least one day before the attack occured", she continued and added: "Otherwise, the criminal would not have been able to get the costume they needed."

"Also true. We..." Hang on.

That was not a parfume. It was _way_ too strong and the smell itself was...

"Uhm", said Phoenix.

Apollo looked up. And stopped.

"That is... that is a lot of smoke."

"I do belive it's coming from there", Ms. Lawes stated, slowly getting up. "But that is too strong to be a mere bonfire..."

The three of them hurried over towards the source of the smoke which was darkening the sky, running into a large, wide alley. This was the fancy part of the city, where the high and mighty lived... none of them knew their way around here, but the black cloud lead them around a corner.

There was a row of houses... no, of mansions before them. All of them were large and white, with enourmous windows and equally enourmous gardens surrounded by fences with spikes on top. All of them looked expensive and valuable and exactly the same.

However, despite all that, there was one house which stuck out like a sore thumb.

It was as white and large as the other ones. It had enourmous windows and an equally enourmous garden and the fence surrounding it had spikes on top. It looked expensive and valuable. But it still... stuck out.

The problem wasn't the torn curtain one could faintly see through one of the windows. The problem wasn't the rosebush which had taken over the garden, covering it in a mess of thorns and flowers. The problem wasn't the single spike which had been broken off and the two next to it, which were bend. All there things made it unique, but the _problem_, the _real_ problem, was something else.

It happened to be on fire.

A large amount of onlookers had gathered around. At least one of them had his phone by his ear, hopefully to call the fire department. The rest was just staring up at the flickering flames devouring the roof, dousing the garden in sooth and ash.

Hopefully no one had been inside...

Behind him, there was a weak, garbled noise and when Phoenix turned around, he found Apollo, pale as a ghost and stiff as a stick.

Ms. Lawes had noticed it too, gave him a gentle push: "Mr. Justice...?"

"_T-this house..._"

"Apollo? What's wrong?" Phoenix was a little worried now. The young man had sounded absolutely horrified.

"_Mr. Wright... this house..._"

Quick, uneven breathing, his voice weak and unnaturally quiet. Phoenix reached out to his subordinate, but Apollo didn't even noticed. He was just staring, motionless, as if frozen by the flames.

"_This house..._", he whispered, almost too quiet to be heard, "_this house belongs to..._"

"_**NO!**_"

A male figure, making his way through the crowd, pushing people aside as hedashed forward and made his way through the crowd of gawkers that had surrounded the inferno. "NO, no, _no, my..._ that can't... _how_..."

Blonde hair unraveled, having caught on the onlookers buttons and necklaces. Tanned skin pale in terror. The usual grin gone, replaced with an open mouth and wide eyes, a grimace of fear and incomprehension.

Klavier Gavin.

x

January 24, 10:48 AM

Mr. Gavin's House

Garden

x

The fire was quelled, at last. Firemen were busy packing up their equipment. The crowd had dispersed at the insistence of the firefighters.

Poor Klavier was propped up in the back of the fire truck, hunched over and shivering. Someone had given him a small orange shock blanket, which he'd wrapped around himself as tightly as had been possible. Apollo didn't know what to say.

He'd been here before because rival or not, Klavier was a friend by now... of course he'd visited the prosecutor at home, both for work-related reasons and just to hang out. To see the house in flames...

Looking over, he could see Mr. Wright, talking to one of the fire fighters. Somewhere to the left, Ms. Lawes was searching the charred remains of what had once been a kitchen.

And Klavier had not said a single word for at least ten minutes.

Carefully, Apollo reached out to brush his hand against the prosecutor's shoulder. He got no response.

Maybe he should say something? "They say the only rooms which were destroyed were the kitchen, the living room and one of the bathrooms. The rest is pretty much okay."

Silence. Then, after a moment, the muffled response... "All of my guitars were in the living room..."

With that, Klavier fell silent again. Oh...

But at least now the prosecutor was moving again. He dug through his pockets, fishing out a small bottle, unscrewed it and took a whiff of what was inside...

"_Stop!_"

Apollo grabbed the bottle and pulled it from Klavier's quivering hand. Ariadoney clear nail polish, of course.

The prosecutor looked at him, sadness in his eyes. Then he sighed.

"You're right", he mumbled. "Huffing isn't going to help."

His accent had faded almost completely. He spoke clearly now, with only the slightest hint of german.

"I'm sorry", Apollo said, placing one hand on his rival's shoulder. Klavier laughed, the type of laughter that comes when the only other option is to cry. "I know."

"Any idea what you'll do now? You're..."

"...homeless? I know that too, Herr Justice." Not even enough spirit for teasing nicknames. "I have enough money to rebuild, luckily. And my house was insured. Most of the furniture can be replaced. The biggest loss were my guitars." Another sigh. "I suppose it could have been worse. I wasn't home. But still..."

"You can crash on my couch if you want", Apollo offered without really thinking. Klavier managed a smile.

"_Danke_, Herr Justice. I appreciate it. To be honest, I sometimes feel as if this world hates me. I try my best to smile and stay optimistic, but... but I just keep _losing_ things... I lost my band, I lost my brother, in my last big case I nearly lost my life, I might just lose my job and _now_..."

_Please don't start crying_. Apollo had no idea if he could handle his rival crying. Probably not. But Klavier caught himself, took a deep, shuddering breath and calmed down a little.

They had to get up when the firemen packed up the last of their equipment. Klavier returned the shock blanket, reassuring the firefighters that yes, he was fine, he was safe, he didn't need anything. Mr. Wright headed over to meet them and handed Klavier a few papers. "Here, these are for you. They'll make it easier to get your insurance money."

"Thank you, Herr Wright. Where is the young Fräulein who was with you?"

"Still searching your house, I think."

Ms. Lawes stood in the former living room. Apollo swallowed hard when he noticed the burnt shapes behind her, one of them clearly a guitar. But the defense attorney didn't seem to see that at all. She was holding a strip of cloth, most likely from the burned, sooth-covered couch right next to her, looking down at it with a quizzical look. Then she turned and called out to them.

"Mr. Wright, Mr. Justice, Mr. Gavin... I might need your opinion in this matter, but..."


	14. Chapter 14

January 24, 10:54 AM

Mr. Gavin's House

Garden

x

"What is it, Ms. Lawes?", Apollo asked, stepping up to her. She held out the piece of cloth and coughed, the air was still thick with smoke.

"I just took this from the couch right now. If you would kindly do me a favor and smell it..."

Next to him, Phoenix leaned in and sniffed. Then he winced in shock.

Ms. Lawes bit her lip. "So it is not merely me?"

Pulling the cloth from her hands, Apollo sniffed it himself.

Oh. OH!

The sharp scent of... kerosene.

There was a moment of shared silence. Then Apollo leaned in and examined the rest of the couch.

"It reeks of the stuff."

"The papers that firefighter gave me did state that the fire started here, in the living room..."

"Odd place for a fire to start. Odd place to put kerosene, too." Stating the obvious, of course. But also stating the important.

"Kerosene burns", Mr. Wright added, equally obvious. By now, Klavier had caught on. "You don't mean..."

"I mean that maybe this fire was... not an accident."

"_Entschuldigung_?!"

His voice trembling, clenching his fingers around his braid until his knuckles turned white, Klavier stared at him with an unreadable expression.

"You must be joking, Herr Forehead. That... you can not possibly, seriously..."

"If one looks at the facts, it's quite likely, is it not?", Ms. Lawes said, biting her fingertips. Apollo took note of the nervous habit without really taking note of it. "What do you mean?"

She didn't answer right away. Instead she turned to Klavier. "Apologies, Mr. Gavin. I hate to ask questions of you right now, but I need to be certain. You are a prosecutor, correct?"

A barely perceptible nod. Mr. Wright opened his mouth and stopped. Apollo could _hear_ him think.

"As was... Mr. Portsman", he said and Ms. Lawes nodded. "And Mr. Edgeworth. Mr. Wright, I do belive that the situation is obvious."

And by now, Apollo had realized it, too. And the implications of it were not good at all...

"Someone is... someone is targeting prosecutors."

But wait. There was a problem there. A _really_ _big_ problem, because Jacques Portsman had been _murdered_ and Mr. Edgeworth had _almost_ been murdered and Klavier... had...

"Klavier, where were you!? You just came home, but from where!?"

"Prison."

Sometimes, a single word tells a thousand stories. The prosecutor had averted his gaze, frowning sadly. There was no doubt as to why he had been there.

Apollo searched for words and found nothing.

But then Klavier surprised him: "I actually was not there to visit... Kristoph. Not really. I was there to hand over some paperwork from Mr. Edgeworth. A month ago, the prison relocated a few inmates to a different prison with higher security. It is a process that needs to be repeated every five years, to keep the place from becoming overcrowded. Mr. Edgeworth was involved, but he ordered me to bring the paperwork in." Said with an utterly pathetic smile on his face.

"But you did visit your brother after that?"

"...Yes. I stayed with him for an hour at least. Not that he _said_ anything, mind you..."

A soft sparkling wetness in his eyes. Apollo remembered the last time he'd seen Kristoph... a broken wreck of a man who had nothing in common with the brilliant, yet evil lawyer he'd once been. Talking to him... that had to hurt.

Mr. Wright was clearly not bothering with that, though. "So you left prison one hour later than expected. Meaning if you hadn't decided to visit your brother, you would have been..."

..._home_.

If Apollo closed his eyes, the thought became more real than reality. He could hear the panicked screams, filled with agony as the flames licked over the vulnerable skin, engulfed a body doomed to _die_... or maybe it weren't screams he was hearing but gasping, the sound of smoke filling a pair of lungs _so_ _very_ _desperate_ for air. The stench of burning flesh... and later on, the firemen dug through the rubble to discover a body burned to charcoal, curled up in what had been a last desperate attempt to...

He could see the fear in Klavier's eyes.

It was at that moment that Apollo decided that he would find this criminal and he would defeat them, not with gun or knife but with the power of the law, a guilty verdict well-deserved and a few steep steps leading up to the gallows.

x

January 24, 04:03 PM

Apollo's House

Hallway

x

"You know, I don't think I've ever been at your place."

Athena looked around curiously, wondering which sick mind had decided to paint the walls in this horrendous shade of yellow.

"Thanks for coming, Athena. Did you ask Mr. Wright what to do?"

"Yes. He came up with a plan... well, technically Mr. Edgeworth came up with a plan, I suppose. Mr. Wright and Ms. von Karma will continue trying to find out who attacked Mr. Edgeworth. Mr. Sebastian will reinvestigate the death of Mr. Portsman. If there really is someone attacking prosecutors, then Mr. Monet might just be another pawn."

A small cat came up from behind and rubbed up against her leg. She leaned down to pet it and it purred softly.

"You think he's a hired killer?"

"Maybe, or maybe he's been manipulated. Mr. Edgeworth will help Mr. Sebastian as much as he can. The two of us are supposed to take care of this fire."

A nod. "I understand. Do you know who the prosecutor in charge of the investigation will be?"

She shrugged. "Well, there aren't many left. I do hope for Simon, though. Where's Mr. Gavin?"

"Asleep in the living room. Please try to be quiet, okay? He's been through a lot."

She glanced over to a dark blue door, slightly open. Through the gap she could faintly see a figure curled up on the couch, not moving. Even with him being asleep and several meters away, she could feel his sadness.

It was hard to imagine, really. Even in her darkest hour, her saddest moments, she had always had a place to stay. Sure, that place had changed frequently and she had, subsequently, had different "homes" all over Europe, but... but there had _been_ a home, _always_. Oh, sure... Mr. Gavin would take it with a smile, he always did.

She shuddered as she remembered first meeting the man... a well-adjusted prosecutor, a former rockstar, too, always happy and cheerful and smiling. Later, Apollo had told her about Mr. Gavin... about his friends, his bandmates, his brother, his past. She'd been horrified, of course... and confused.

Confused because neither Widget nor her own finely-tuned senses had picked up on his smile being fake. But by now she knew that that smile _wasn't_ fake, not always, not really. More often than not, Klavier's smile was real because, after everything he'd been through, the constant feeling of disappointment and sadness had become his normal everyday emotion. And that was a lot more scary than a fake smile.

She knew that Mr. Edgeworth had recommended a therapist to him. What she didn't know was whether or not Mr. Gavin had actually _visited_ the therapist in question. She hoped for his own good that he had, the man was in no way healthy.

"The place was set on fire with the use of kerosene. Probably with a fuse of some kind. Did they find anything like that?"

Apollo shook his head. "Not yet, but investigation hasn't started yet. I guess the forensic experts will take a closer look later."

"Good. Now, the culprint had to have entered the house somehow. Any idea how that happened?"

"The windows were closed. And since the arsonist was expecting Klavier to... to be home, they would not have broken a window..."

His voice had broken up there for a moment, she noted as he continued: "But the back door can be unlocked from the outside pretty easily. You can get the door chain open with a twig or a piece of wire. And he always has a spare key hidden in a small gap behind the mailbox."

Of course... Apollo visited Klavier at times. She had only been at Blackquill's place once or twice, mostly to help him _find_ a place... he had been unwilling to live in his sister's apartment. Understandable.

Thinking about it now... Mr Gavin also had his brother's place to go to, hadn't he? She knew he went there at times to fetch files. But instead... instead he'd choosen to crash at his courtroom rival's house...

Concentrate, Athena. You aren't doing therapy.

"That would make it easy to get in. How well-hidden is that key?"

"It's... okay, I guess. You need to take the mailbox off to reach it."

"Hm. Not exactly the pinnacle of security. So, the arsonist either grabs the spare key or breaks in through the back door, then heads for the living room, douses the couch in kerosene, lays a fuse, sets it on fire... all while beliving that Mr. Gavin is at home and might walk in any... Apollo, this is ridiculous, nobody would do that!"

It _was_ ridiculous. What type of criminal would ever... one had to be insane to even _consider_... they had to be getting this wrong.

"Maybe we need to reconsider a few facts." She leaned back against the wall, closing her eyes. "Maybe the criminal did know that Mr. Gavin wasn't there. In that case..."

He interrupted her: "But Klavier decided to visit his brother on a whim! Nobody could have known..."

"Apollo, has Klavier ever been to prison _without_ visiting his brother?!"

"I don't think I have, Nein."

The blue door had opened and Klavier was standing there, looking insanely tired. His hair was a wavy mess of curls which wrapped around his head like some type of fuzzy cling wrap and he wore a black pyjama with tiny red guitars on it. But there was a smile on his face... that cursed smile which was still real despite his pain.

"Oh, Mr. Gavin... did we wake you up?"

"Don't fret, Fräulein, I was just dozing. Now, what was that you were talking about?"

Athena waited while Apollo filled the prosecutor in. Afterwards, Klavier sighed.

"I'd certainly sleep easier knowing that I wasn't meant to become a little casuality. Let us hope, then, that you are correct, ja?"

He stood silent for a moment, pondering something, then he suddenly grinned. "All right then, shall we go visit the crime scene together?"

He wanted to... come along? "Mr. Gavin, are you really sure about that? I'm not sure what effect this will have on your mentality..."

"Ach, don't you worry about me. It'll be much easier to investigate with someone who really knows the place, ja?" Then, for a moment, his grin faded and he added, quietly: "I would also prefer not to stay here alone."

Apollo looked away, apparently not knowing what to say. Athena felt _**fear**_ in the air and _**sadness**_... and a little bit of _**lo**_...

At times like this, she wondered how people would act if she wasn't around. Maybe Apollo would be more willing to comfort his rival if it were not for her presence?

Then again, maybe not...

"I suppose we can go, then", she said, trying to get her mind off that idea before it caught on for good. It wasn't easy.

"Yes, let's go. Maybe, if we are lucky, the prosecutor in charge will already be there. In that case, Klavier, you'll probably be of use, you can tell them to let us investigate..."

"Herr Forehead, please. Considering the chaotic scenario we find ourselves in, I'm fairly certain that you won't need me to get permission. Trust me, we prosecutors are grateful for every helping hand right now."

Prosecutors and Defense Attorneys, working side by side against the common enemy; the criminal? Wow. Amazing that no one had thought of that before.


	15. Chapter 15

January 24, 04:34 PM

Mr. Gavin's House

Garden

x

Athena's lips split up into a grin as soon as she saw the large man standing there among the charred furniture, watching as the detectives did their work. Of course, who else...

"Heya, Simon!", she cried out, eagerly waving to him. He returned her greeting with a barely perceptible nod into her vague direction.

"Cykes-dono. Here to make my life more difficult, I suppose?"

He chuckled and turned around to face her. In doing so, he caught sight of Mr. Gavin... and instantly became serious.

"Mr. Gavin", he said, and then, after an awkward pause: "I... am sorry for what happened to your home."

"Don't be sorry, Herr Blackquill, you didn't burn it down. Ah, you wouldn't have any clues as to who did, ja?"

A headshake. "Nothing yet. Forensics are trying to figure out how exactly the couch was set on fire. Detective's over there, looking how the criminal got in." He pointed over his shoulder at a group of detectives and added: "The door chain on your back door was open. Is that supposed to be this way?"

Klavier blinked. "No... no, it definitely is not!"

"Figures. If it were, you would damn well have been robbed blind at least three times by now. Then I guess we found the gate that let our fiery bird flutter in."

And speaking of birds fluttering in... with a loud screech, Taka twirled down from the sky, some paper in his beak. He landed on Blackquill's shoulder, gracefully... at first. When folding his wings, the bird... struggled. Blackquill reached up to brush over the wing once Taka had finally succeeded and frowned.

"Hmpf. Ever since that damn rotten assassin shot him, my bosom buzzard has been having trouble folding his wing right. I'd love to see that guy hang for it, but..."

He didn't finish his sentence, instead pulled a feather out of nowhere, raised it up to his mouth and then, bizarrely, decided to take a puff of it as if it were a cigarette.

"Uh, he did bring you some papers", Apollo mentioned and Blackquill groaned.

"Don't remind me of them, Justice-dono. Those are the last remaining documents connected to the recent relocation of inmates. Edgeworth-dono gave them to me as I was the only high-ranking prosecutor not actively working on a case." A dark, dirty laugh. "Well, so much for that. I have precious little time to deal with them as of now."

"Ach, Herr Blackquill, let me take them, ja? I'm in no situation to take on a case or lead investigation, but filling out some paperwork, that I can do."

"You might as well." And Gavin reached out to snatch the documents from Taka's beak. "Not that it matters much in my opinion, as the prison archives are as overcrowded as it cells. How much longer is that going to take over there?!"

That last part had been directed at the forensics expert... not Ms. Skye, but a much older woman. She fumbled for a second, trying not to drop whatever device it had been she'd been using, then hurried over to Simon, the device clutched to her chest.

"Mr. Blackquill, Sir! We have determined that there was, in fact, a fuse! A rope doused in kerosene and small amounts of gunpowder."

"Gunpowder? Where from?", Blackquill asked, and she saluted: "It was a very small amount, Sir. Most likely from a firecracker. Unfortunally, we cannot determine how long the fuse was, so we cannot tell how long it burned before the couch caught on fire..."

"Then keep searching! Hmpf. I have a really bad feeling about this case, you know?"

"How so?", Athena asked and Simon shrugged. "I'm not exactly... sure. It's more a feeling. The knowledge that there are dark clouds hanging above us. The pressure being laid on us to end these cases - _all_ of these cases - as quickly as possible is getting harder by the day. But if we rush this, then we are in danger."

"So it's a life or job desicion? You know, I'd know which one to pick.", Klavier snarked, but backed off when Simon glared at him.

"No time for jokes, Gavin-dono. You are in enough trouble already, even without bothering me."

Athena felt like it was time to step in. "It wouldn't make sense for a the fuse to be long, would it?", she asked. "Using a long fuse would take more time... risking that Mr. Gavin would notice, if the criminal really did think that he was home. So it must have been relatively short."

"Common sense is not hard evidence in court, you know?", Blackquill growled. Behind them, Apollo mumbled something about how every Wright & Co. case would be lost immediately if that where the case, but Athena ignored him. She also ignored the fact that he was right.

"I know it isn't, Simon, you don't have to tell me that! What I'm saying is that maybe we should question a few things. We aren't even sure if the criminal _wanted_ Mr. Gavin to be home... maybe they just tried to burn the house, who knows. We shouldn't assume things."

"That is easier said than done when you need to fear for your life every passing second, you know?"

Blackquill stared off into the distance. Then, seeing the confusion on her face, he barked: "I am a prosecutor too, Cykes-dono! I might be the next target!"

Oh.

Oh no.

Her blood felt cold, how was that even possible? But it did. It had frozen withhin her veins and refused to thaw.

Somebody, either Apollo or Klavier, shook her gently and she winced. Blackquill hadn't even noticed.

"Getting used to the thought of living to see a future was hard work, you know? I am not eager to let it go to waste by dying."

Poor Blackquill, she could feel his heart racing in his chest. Tough as he was, he was...

..._**scared**_?

Of course he was. Coming to terms with a quick, painless execution, neccessary to save the life of an innocent child, that was one thing. A violent death at the hands of a criminal was something else entirely. And of course there was the fear for his _friends_ and coworkers as well...

Poor Simon. Poor, intimidating, strong-looking Simon.

"Ach, I'd like to see that, Herr Blackquill. Me, I'm not much of a fighter and neither is Mr. Edgeworth, but you? I dare say that if I tried to attack you, you would slit my throat in a second flat with that fancy finger slice you do."

"Yes, if you fight me face to face. Not if you sneak into my home to burn me alive."

And poor Klavier, too, now he looked like somebody had poured a bucket of water over a puppy. He dealt with bad situations by smiling and joking, but that approach was doomed to fail with Simon around. Poor Simon, poor Klavier. Poor Prosecutors as a whole.

Mr. Blackquill sighed. "Now then, I guess you will want to investigate, yes? Fine, go ahead. Just don't bother the detectives."

"Thanks, Simon! You're the best!"

She wrapped her arms around him, gave him a tight squeeze and completely ignored his attempt to push her away. Then she headed off into the mess of detectives and policemen.

x

January 24, 04:37 PM

Dye-Young Hospital

Room 10

x

"So now Mr. Gavin has been attacked. That is worrying, Wright."

Phoenix nodded, but he wasn't really listening. He was worried himself.

It had been a shock, to hear that Klavier had also been targeted. The other attacks he could justify... Mr. Portsman had been a murderer and a thief. Edgeworth had done his fair share of evil in his role as the Demon Prosecutor. Heaven, even shy little Sebastian had, in his foolish stupidy, caused a trial or two to go wrong on purpose back before Edgeworth had taken him up. But, Klavier? The man was every innocent defendant's best friend! Not once - not _once_ \- had there been a case of him manipulating a trial, influencing a witness, doing anything other than trying to get a fair verdict.

Even in that fateful trial that had taken Phoenix' badge Klavier had not done anything _wrong_, hard as it was to admit that. He remembered how he had kept a close eye on the rookie prosecutor after that case, so certain that he would turn out to be yet another all-are-guilty lawyer with a perfect record and... _interesting_ ways of reaching his goal, but instead... nothing. Nothing but a cheerful smile and a helping hand. Back then, it had been infuriating. By now, it was a pleasure.

Attacking Klavier was _wrong_. The guy needed a break, dear god, he needed it so badly!

"...very straightforward", Ms. von Karma said. Oh crap, what had she said?! Failing to listen to Franziska von Karma could be very, very painful... "Not many criminals dare do something as... _direct_ as this." Ah, okay.

"True. Setting a house on fire from the inside, all while believing the home owner to be just a few rooms away... that is certainly very direct."

"Foolish, too." Franziska crossed her arms. "So our opponent is a fearless fool. I could think of an easier task."

"It is worrysome, yes", Edgeworth agreed. "A person like that is unlikely to care about danger. Our safety precautions might all be for naught."

He looked stoic as ever, but for one who knew his as well as Phoenix did, it was clear that Edgeworth was nervous. No wonder. He would have to stay in the hospital for a while, completely helpless.

"Franziska, may I ask a favour of you?", the prosecutor asked and interrupted Phoenix' train of thought.

"That depends on the favour." Ah, Franziska. As nice as a rattlesnake.

"I need you to... keep an eye on Sebastian for me. He is not exactly capable of protecting himself."

And surprisingly enough, the rattlesnake was actually pretty nice. Franziska just nodded.

"I agree. He is still a rather foolish boy. I will see that he is not hurt."

"Thank you." Edgeworth smiled, a geniue smile.

It turned back into a frown near instantly. "That reminds me. Wright. I've heard that a piece of evidence has been found in the car that hit me. Unfortunally, a young policeman by the name of... Meekins, was it? ...He had it delivered to my office by accident. Feel free to take a look at it if you are interested. I will give you my key."

Now that was... interesting. "If you don't mind."

"Certainly not. I have not seen this piece of evidence for myself yet, so I am rather curious as well. If you could inform me once you have seen it, I would be highly grateful."

"Ah, so that's it. You're just to lazy to go get it yourself."

"I am in the hospital, Wright. I doubt that the doctors here would be happy if I just got up and walked away. Which I am not even capable of as of now."

"Fine, then you're just to scared to send Franziska. I'll take care of it."

With that, he got up and was just about ready to leave. But Ms. von Karma called him back.

"You will wait a second, Phoenix Wright!"

When he turned around - hands up, just in case - she was glaring at him, whip ready.

"First of all, Phoenix Wright, there appears to be a misunderstanding here."

_CRACK! _The whip hit the door just a few centimeters away from his head, leaving a gash in the wood.

"At no point did I allow you to refer to me by my first name. Doing so is highly impolite and while I have come to terms with your foolishness, I still belive that some basic manners are not too high of an expectation. Now, with that made clear..."

The whip was lowered. She was now holding it in a way that was almost nonthreatning, except for the fact that she was still holding a _whip_.

"...I hereby give you permission to enter _my_ office as well. There is a blue folder in the second desk drawer from the top left. In there, on the very last page, you should find a list of phone numbers, one of them marked "information". You may take that number with you and use it whenever you need an in-depth check on something, more precise than what this city alone can give you. Simply make certain that the person you are calling knows that you are calling in my name. Should a question be asked, the answer is 'royal purple'. Should no question be asked, say nothing and terminate the call _immediately_."

She sounded incredibly serious and Phoenix nodded, his body stiff. "Yes, Ms. von Karma. Thank you."

"Hmpf. If you truly wish to thank me, be on your way and put time and effort into solving this case. Oh, and..." _CRACK!_ "if you try to call any number other than the one I have permitted to you, read any page withhin that or any other file except the one I have permitted to you or open any drawer other than the one I have permitted to you", _CRACK! _"trust that you _will_ regret it."

And with this very clear statement, she turned and Phoenix was dismissed.


	16. Chapter 16

January 24, 04:59 PM

Prosecutor's Building

Hallway

x

The elevator was still broken. Had been broken for weeks. And unfortunally, Edgeworth didn't really understand the importance of having it repaired.

Phoenix made his way up the stairs, cursing the Chief Prosecutor's phobias with every step he took. Ms. von Karma's office, at least, wasn't that high up, but he dreaded Edgeworth's own office, up at the very top of this terrifying tower.

He hadn't been in von Karma's office before, he realized. It was one of the few offices he had never seen. Stepping in, it was... spartanian. A simple room with little to no luxurity and even less personality. Of course, Ms. von Karma spend most of her time in Germany, so this was mostly a... part-time office, if anything. But he had the feeling that even if this had been her main office, it would have been empty still. Franziska von Karma was not one to foolishly squander time and money on needless decorations.

A single item did catch his eye. It was a small music box on her table, just a simple box in blue and white. The wind-up key was missing.

It looked so very out of place.

At least an office as clean and orderly as this made it easy to find what he was searching for. He found, in the second desk drawer from the top left, a blue folder and on the last page there were indeed several phone numbers written down. Most of them had no name assigned to them, just short descriptions, pieces of evidence and case file numbers. Finally, almost at the very bottom, there was a number marked with the word "information". He took out his phone and quickly saved the number, adding a reminder to it reading "royal purple". With that, he sighed and headed back into the hallway to climb the rest of the stairs. Curious as he was about this room, satisfying this curiosity was not worth angering Ms. von Karma.

Taking the last few steps, panting and gasping, he threw a look of disdain at the closed elevator door, covered with yellow tape in it's uselessness, and entered a far more familiar office than Ms. von Karma's.

There was an object on the table, sealed withhin a plastic bag. A small note next to it explained where and when it had been found: Just one day ago, by Detective Gumshoe, in the car that had hid Mr. Edgeworth. Chances of it belonging to the criminal were high.

Finally, a piece of evidence, a lead! A single flat object in a plastic bag.

A green piece of cloth.

Phoenix looked down at it.

Great. Way to crush all of his hopes and dreams. What an incredibly useless find. Although...

He snapped some pictures of it, then send a quick message to Edgeworth. Maybe the Chief Prosecutor would find something of worth in this...

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_Phoenix Wright, 05:28: I found the evidence_

_Phoenix Wright send a picture, 05:28_

_Phoenix Wright, 05:29: Doesn't say much to me. Any ideas?_

_Miles Edgeworth, 05:34: It does seem very simple. Kindly take it with you, Wright._

_Phoenix Wright, 05:35: Okay, I'll take it back to the agency._

_Phoenix Wright, 05:35: Anything else?_

_Miles Edgeworth, 05:36: No, that is everything for now. I will alert you if something happens._

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

...but it didn't look like it.

Oh well. He tucked the cloth piece away savely and sighed.

Time to head back down these infernal stairs.

x

January 24, 05:36 PM

Mr. Gavin's House

Garden

x

"Found anything, Cykes-dono?"

"Nothing. You?"

"Take a guess."

Apollo looked down at them glumly, sighing. He hadn't found anything either yet, not that he'd expected to. And as for Klavier, he...

Well, he was _trying_ to aid investigation, much harder than Apollo would have done in his place. But still, all he was really doing in the end was walking through the rubble, stopping every now and then to carefully pick up a burned object of some kind so he could stare at it. Maybe he was regretting coming along.

Apollo had tried to search upstairs, where the fire hadn't left many traces. True enough, Klavier's bedroom was hardly affected at all. The only thing noteworthy up here was the lack of electricity.

Klavier had been reading something before heading for prison, it seemed. A book was placed on the messy bed, with a candy wrapper used as a bookmark. It was amazing how... how normal it looked. Like there was nothing wrong... like Klavier had just left this room moments ago to fetch himself a drink before finishing his book.

He wasn't even sure why he was here at all. It was unlikely that he would find clues here... there was no reason for the culprint to even go upstairs. But it was... calming, in a way, to be in this room. It was a nice little bit of familiarity in this messy world, a room he knew and had seen before, had been to before. Everything, from the incredibly vain Gavineers-print bedsheets to the ridiculously old CD player slash radio which Klavier actually used fairly often was...

The CD player was still on.

It was hard to notice, without electricity, but the old thing had buttons which stayed down when pressed and the power switch was down. There even was a CD inside. Apollo took it out.

Rammstein, he knew that band. It was much too loud for his taste, but Klavier adored it. He usually... yep, the volume was turned all the way up. Which meant...

Which... meant...

He was up on his feet in the span of a second, hurried back downstairs, almost tripping several times but not slowing down.

"Klavier! Klavier! Did you...", a short break to catch his breath, "...did you leave your CD player on when you left?!"

The prosecutor stared at him with glassy eyes. "My... CD pla... ja, I might have..." He chuckled nervously. "A bad habit of mine..."

"Then we know for a _fact_ that the culprint _did _think you were home. That music would have been easy to hear even down here!"

A moment of silence. Then Klavier sighed.

"Then this criminal really did intend for me to die."

Athena gave him a soft pat on the arm. A few steps away, Blackquill frowned.

"This isn't exactly good news, Justice-dono."

"It's still news, though. Still important."

"True enough. Hrm."

He scratched Taka's feathered chin, in deep thoughts. Next to him, Athena was pondering.

Looking at Mr. Blackquill... it did give Apollo an idea.

"Who's left?"

"Hm?", asked Blackquill, desinterested, but Klavier knew what Apollo was heading for.

"Only... only Ms. von Karma and Herr Blackquill, ja?"

"And Sebastian", Athena threw in and Klavier blinked. "Ach, good point. I counted our dear Erster due to the culprint's attempt to have him framed, but you are right, that was not actually an attack on his life."

"What are you saying, Justice-dono?", growled Blackquill, but Athena straight-out interrupted him: "Oh! Oh, I've got something else!"

She looked immensely proud of herself, hand on her hips and a grin on her face... then suddenly her eyes widened and the grin faded.

"Cykes-dono...?"

The worry in Blackquill's voice was clear as day.

"I... I'm sorry" She swallowed hard. "Sorry. Just, uh... I... I've got something else." Toying with her earring, as she always did.

"The first... the first victim was Mr. Portsman. His case was prosecuted by Mr. Edgeworth and Mr. Sebastian, working together. Then... then Mr. Edgeworth was attacked and Mr. Sebastian framed."

What was she going for...?

"That case was investigated and prosecuted by you, Mr. Gavin, and you were the next victim. Now, this case, once we find someone to accuse, will be prosecuted by..."

She stopped there, but she didn't need to continue. They all knew what was coming next.

Blackquill was the first to speak: "Oh, bloody hell." Which was the understatement of the century.

"You're next", Klavier whispered, his voice breaking a little. Athena had closed her eyes.

Blackquill himself seemed surprisingly stable for someone who'd just been told that someone wanted to kill him. Then again, he did have practice with that.

"Cykes-dono, give me your opinion on this: If every victim so far was the prosecutor who had prosecuted the case before their own, will I be safe until I actually prosecute _this_ case?"

Apollo answered the question in her place. "You might be. Originally, the prosecutor for Mr. Edgeworth's case was Ms. von Karma. She led most of the investigation, too, but it was still Mr. Gavin who got attacked. But you... should still be careful."

Still, the tension, while not gone completely, had at least lifted. Athena opened her eyes again. Klavier turned away to continue his journey through his ruined home, searching for whatever it was he was searching for in this mess. Blackquill took a deep breath and slumped against the stairs. Taka screeched in surprise as his perch suddenly moved.

"Apologies, my friend. It was not my attention to startle you."

Perhaps it was a peace offering, perhaps he'd been planning to do it anyway, but he pulled a pack of beef jerky from his pocket and held one of the strips up to the birds beak. Taka nearly tore his finger off trying to get it.

"Tsk. Greedy bugger. Just for that, I'll take half of it for myself." But he actually only ate one quarter of it and left the rest for Taka.

How was he so... calm? He had a few days of rest at best! And now he was just sitting there spoiling his, his... his bird! On the other hand, it was certainly better than having him panic like a normal person.

...Every single prosecutor was insane.

Meanwhile, investigation continued. It didn't look successful or anything, but at least it continued. A forensic scientist was dusting something for fingerprints, some detectives were discussing one of the windows. Klavier had stopped again, having found a scarf on the ground which he was now holding up to check if it was burned in any way. Athena had taken a few steps aside. Her eyes were closed again... heaven knew what she was thinking.

He was content to just stand and watch the investigation for now. Switching on his phone, he typed a message to Mr. Wright... just a short list of what they had found so far, along with their theory regarding the culprint's next target. Minutes passed by. Eventually, the detectives on scene decided to call it quits for today, having searched through every nook and cranny. Shortly after that, Apollo, Athena, Blackquill and Klavier were alone.

Blackquill leaned back, sighing. Slowly he stretched before lazily glancing down at them.

"Very well, I will be on my way. I must take a closer look at my findings in silence. I will see you soon enough." Turning away, he prepared to leave.

With a soft "_thud_" and like in slow motion, Taka fell off Blackquill's shoulders and hit the ground.


	17. Chapter 17

January 24, 06:01 PM

Mr. Gavin's House

Garden

x

"TAKA?!", Blackquill yelled out, stumbling backwards as the bird fell. "Somebody call a vet!"  
He reached out to hold at the grounded hawk, now almost motionless, kneeling at his side to get a closer look at whatever illness had befallen his friend.

Athena stepped closer, trying to get a better look. What had even happened? Was it the old bullet wound troubling him or had the hawk caught an illness or...

Blackquill was equally confused. He was turning Taka's body in his hands, searching for an injury of some sorts, but he didn't seem to find anything. He mumbled something to himself, repositioning himself to be slightly more comfortable before stretching the bird's wing, brushing his fingers through the feathers to calm Taka down.

Then, only a second later, the prosecutor's face fell. He dropped the wing and his hands rose up, clutching his stomach. She saw now that he had started shivering, his pale skin had grown even paler. Sweat dripped from his forehead, leaving wet stains on his collar. Next to him, Taka was retching.

Blackquill looked up, his mouth open, panting.  
"_Hospital_", he gasped, "_now_."

And then, with a weak groan, he fainted.

Athena caught him more by luck than anything else and his weight pulled her down to her knees, her legs gave out and so did her mind. People yelling something, words and noises, so far away and yet so _loud_. And Blackquill lying next to her, lifeless. Lifeless? Ah, of course. He'd been executed. How silly of her not to think of that sooner. Seven years had passed, after all.

No, wait, what was she thinking? Where had her mind gone? She knew that she was mistaken about this, he couldn't have been executed, there was no gallow around, no executioner. And besides, hadn't they proved his innocence, a hundred million years ago? Where even was she?

She was lying in a rose bush. It was very prickly.

Good enough, she decided, closed her eyes and leaned back into the bush as things went black.

x

January 25, 08:17 AM

Dye-Young Hospital

Room 27

x

"He will be all right "  
Ms. Byrde spoke those words quickly before leaving the room, leaving Athena behind. Silence fell over the room. Athena felt like someone had locked her up, alone in the dark, never to see the light again.

The sight of Simon's head hitting the street, long hair surrounding his head like a veil, was still burning in her mind. He looked much more peaceful now that he'd been placed in a hospital bed, but he also looked broken, shattered like broken statue. And the actual diagnosis did little to make it better.

Poison.

Like they hadn't dealt with _that_ enough already. It was not Zitraine, at least, although on second thought... that would have been better, wouldn't it?

Atroquinine, that devilish stuff. She knew how deadly it was. She knew - she _knew_ \- that Simon being alive and breathing still was pure luck. He was comatose, not that that was in any way surprising. Taka had, at Athena's request - she knew very well how upset Simon would be if his pet were to die - been brought to a vet, but would also be fine. Apparently Atroquinine, while incredibly dangerous for mammals, was relatively harmless for birds. The hawk would wake up long before his owner.

But of course, the knowledge that Simon was not going to die didn't change the fact that he had been _meant_ to die. And they had just talked about it, too...

The culprint was breaking their pattern. They were starting to move faster and in doing so, they were ruining what little chance the police had had! They were ruining what little chance the _law_ had had! If they kept going at this speed the next attack would happen very soon and...

_Who was next in line?_

That thought hit her as she tried to distract herself from Simon, who's face looked so very calm when he was unconcious, calmer than it ever looked when he was awake. Who was next in line? Who was the next victim?

Who would be foolish enough to take on this case, knowing fully well that doing so would make them the next target?

...But then again, there weren't many left to choose from. In fact, the only prosecutor whose name she could recall who had yet to be involved was...

Now _that_ would be interesting.  
For a few seconds, she played with the thought of running off to warn her. Mr. Edgeworth was just one hallway away and surely had her number. But then again... this was Franziska von Karma she was talking about. Chances were that she had already done the math for herself.

Had Athena done the math? She wasn't sure. To be truthful, she wasn't even sure how to start.  
Choked with a phone cord. Hit with a car. Set on fire. And poisoned. There was no pattern to these methods, no deeper meaning and most importantly, no way to figure out what would come next. The criminal left no traces behind, planned perfectly. So... someone who was familiar with crime and policework. Someone who'd been involved with the law.

That would, of course, also explain why all the victims had been prosecutors, although it didn't quite explain why one would try and kill them in such an specific order. Always the one who had prosecuted the last case, always... one would have to be obsessed with the legal system to even...

And then there was the matter of the culprint's knowledge. Sometimes they knew things one would only learn via months of research. Other times they would be unfamiliar with the most well-known facts, Sebastian's name being one of them. This meant... what was it they had decided on earlier, a few days ago? The culprint not being from here, right.

And then there was the one piece of evidence. A piece of green cloth. Not much to go by.

On a hunch, she ignored the 'no phones in the hospital' rule again to type up a list of everything she had just said, just to keep it close by. Once she was back at the Agency, she, Apollo and Mr. Wright could take a look at it together.

And in the meantime, she could...

"...very risky, Franziska. I know that you..."

Was that Mr. Edgeworth's voice she was hearing? The door opened and... yes, it was, and Ms. von Karma was with him.

"...are more than capable of taking care of yourself, but... ah, Ms. Cykes. I should have expected to find you here."

She gave him the widest smile she could muster. "Hello, Mr. Edgeworth. You can walk again!" With crutches, of course, but still!

"I can indeed, although they still refuse to let me leave. How is his condition?"

He meant Simon, who looked so very dead beneath the white covers. Her smile weakened, but she refused to let it go.

"He's... okay.", she said, "he... he'll survive it."

"Atroquinine", Ms. von Karma stated, straight to the point. "Where was it?"

"He carries some beef jerky around, for Taka. He doesn't usually eat it himself, but..."

She bit her lip. That had probably saved his life, too. If he'd eaten more of that piece of jerky - half of it, as he had said he'd do - he would have...

The thought was like an icicle stabbing through her heart.

"Interesting. Yet another case of the culprint behaving quite foolish. Looking at the recent development, it is highly obvious to me that the culprint is running out of time. Their research has been lacking and their actions have become more and more risky."

Which would also explain why this person had broken their pattern of waiting until the trial had passed. So, a time limit? If so, how much longer...

"Then that means..." She looked up to Ms. von Karma, who was idly toying with her whip.

"Franziska has offered to act as a bait", Edgeworth said, in a voice that showed very clearly that he in no way agreed with this plan. Franziska showed a smile, confident as could be.

"Miles Edgeworth, what sort of fool you take me for. I will not be a harmless little bait. I will very much be a trap myself. I shall become the prosecutor in charge of Mr. Blackquill's case and once the criminal strikes, he _will_ be punished." _CRACK!_ "And you will not stop me, Miles Edgeworth!"

Had he not been holding his crutches, he would have raised his hands in defense. "Calm down, Franziska. All I insist on is that you do not do this alone. I expect you to take along Detective Gumshoe, at the very least."

She crossed her arms. "I have already talked to Scruffy about this. He, along with two others, will accompany me, pretending to be investigating. However they will have to keep their distance, as to avoid detection. Ms. Cykes, if you or another member of your so-called Agency wishes to attend this event, we shall start investigation in four hours at Mr. Gavin's home, where the incident occured."

"Oh... thank you, Ms. von Karma. Oh, but that reminds me!" Athena brought up her phone, suddenly very proud that she had decided to take notes: "I wrote down a list of all the hints we have. Hold on, let me add 'possible time limit'..."

Familiar with crime and investigation. Interested in the legal system to the point of obsession. Most likely not from here. Owned a piece of green cloth. Might be on a time limit.

Heck yeah, now she was all proud of her list... except for the part where she had thrown it together for no reason, but that was hardly important, right?

"That sounds very interesting. May we see it?", Edgeworth asked and she nodded and handed her phone over. Maybe Edgeworth, in his famed logical ways, would find something...

He read over it, slowly. Then, almost through, he stopped.

"...Ms. Cykes. Have you met... no, I do not belive you have, not in person..."

"What are you babbling on about?!", von Karma demanded to know and read the text over his shoulder. However, she seemed to find nothing of interest. "Are you implying that you can determine a person using this... this... foolishly lacking evidence?"

"Perhaps... Ms. Cykes. Have you shown these notes to Mr. Wright?"

"No, not... not yet..."

"Then do so immediately. Tell him I want for him to take part in this investigation."

Edgeworth looked up, determination in his eyes.

"We've got a criminal to catch."

x

January 25, 11:56 AM

Mr. Gavin's House

Garden

x

Unfortunally, Mr. Wright had refused to tell her anything, despite having the same reaction as Mr. Edgeworth upon seeing her notes. That fact didn't exactly make her feel any better.

Already she regretted coming here. Leaving Simon's side had been hard enough. Now she was standing in this charred garden again, unsure of what to do.

Should she... act like she was investigating? Maybe, but... how did one even do that?

No one else had a clue either. Ms. von Karma was standing, stiff as a piece of wood, head raised high. She was radiating power, as per usual, yet there was a little nervosity there, too. Every loud noise, every movement she caught from the corner of her eyes, the prosecutor was trying to pay attention to everything, nevermind that it couldn't work. Mr. Sebastian was standing at her side and Athena wondered why Ms. von Karma had bothered to take him along... but she was keeping an eye on him at the very least. He was _not_ crying, surprisingly enough.

Apollo hadn't come along, choosing to stay home with Klavier instead. Detective Gumshoe was on the scene, though, just as clueless as the rest of them.

The main problem was that pretending to be investigating was nearly impossible, because there _was_ nothing to investigate. Searching the place where the poison had _taken effect_ \- and nothing else - made little to no sense at all. They had done it for the sole reason of giving the criminal an easier time attacking them.

It made her skin crawl. Investigating a murder, that was okay. Plenty of times they had discovered in court that the murderer in question had been someone they had talked to before, had been alone with... that was less okay, but she could deal with it. Putting herself on a silver platter like this was _not okay at all_ and she wasn't sure if she could deal with it.

But right now she had to. It was too late to go home now. Too late to run away.

Being a lawyer was hard.

Mr. Wright was probably thinking the same thing, standing there staring at the floor, equally unsure what to do.

A little something on the ground caught her eye; a feather. It looked like one of Taka's. She picked it up, holding it up into the light. Maybe, if she tried really, really hard, she could pretend that it was a clue.

...

No. No, she couldn't. And she probably looked super stupid, standing here holding a feather towards the sun. A sacrifice to the sun god.

Something made a sound behind her and she winced, _hard_, but no danger. Just a pidgeon shredding a piece of paper, searching for something to eat. It looked up at Athena with beady black eyes and cooed.

„You've got it easy", Athena mumbled, „you're a bird. You can just fly away and eat crumbs." She, on the other hand, was a troubled lawyer who apparently talked to birds. So now she was going insane. Bad on one hand, but on the other hand it was kind of impressive that it had taken so long.

The sound of footsteps nearby. She was so busy lamenting her fate, she didn't even hear them... until there was a _shout_ and a _bang_ and a _scream_...

Detective Gumshoe had reacted first, tackling Ms. von Karma aside, but he had been to late. The woman was clutching her shoulder in pain, biting her teeth together so hard that Athena feared they might shatter. Blood was dripping through her fingers, dyeing her white sleeves a deep crimson. But she had fighting spirit still and _CRACK_ did her whip hit the one who'd shot her. The culprint screamed in pain, whirled around and bolted away. They pushed two policemen away and Athena only got a quick glance of them before they disappeared behind a corner... a medium-sized person cloaked in a thick, brown coat, face hidden by a hood and a scarf.

It had happened quickly, too quick for her to react. The detective, however, had grasped the situation near instantly.

„HEY! STOP RIGHT THERE!", he yelled and followed after the criminal, running as fast as he could. Seconds later he, too, was gone.

Ms. von Karma had sunken to the ground. Her browns were furrowed, her teeth gnashed together still, but all in all she really just looked slightly annoyed with the whole situation. Mr. Wright had stepped aside to call an ambulance. Sebastian was at von Karma's side, pressing his jacket against her bleeding shoulder.

„Foolish... fool..." The prosecutor was breathing heavily. „How _dare_ they..." She looked up sharply. „Put that phone away, Phoenix Wright, I have no need for an ambulance. There are more important things at hand!" Phoenix ignored her completely.

_CRACK_. But it was a weak crack and she missed Mr. Wright completely. She didn't try again.

And Athena looked at to where the criminal had run off to, staring into the distance.


	18. Chapter 18

January 25, 01:24 PM

Dye-Young Hospital

Room 04

x

Simon, Edgeworth, Klavier... all of them he had seen in a hospital bed at some point by now and all of them had looked... weak, vulnerable. But Franziska von Karma hadn't lost any of her power, she wasn't one to break. _If_ she broke then she broke like a piece of glass, shattering not into pieces but into razor-sharp shards even more dangerous than they had been as a whole. There was a fire in her eyes, a fire which was burning as fiercely as ever. She had kept her whip.

Phoenix couldn't help but notice that Gumshoe seemed very much aware of that: He refused to leave the doorway.

„I... I'm very sorry, Sir. I didn't... they escaped, Sir."

„Hmpf. Impractical, but not unexpected. Now, Mr. Wright." She looked at him and he instinctively felt the need to take a step back. „I belive you had a plan B, did you not?"

„Yes", he nodded and felt seriously proud of himself for having a _plan_, that happened so seldomly.

„Now then. What precisely does this... _plan_ of yours consist of?"

Was there doubt in her voice?! How dare she doubt his amazing plan!

„Well, truth be told, I'm fairly certain I already know who the culprint is..."

_CRACK!_

PAIN! Sharp pain through his leg and knee and _argh_! He stumbled backwards, silently cursing. Should have taken that step back earlier!

„Phoenix Wright! Are you saying that this entire mess was all for _nothing_?!"

_Okay_, this was a bad scenario! „No, _no_! If we'd been able to catch her in the act it would have been way easier! This is really complicated and... and if it goes wrong then we're _really_ in trouble!"

That seemed to calm her a bit. „Very well. Explain."

„First of all, we need a random person to accuse of setting Mr. Gavin's house on fire. I vote for Athena, I need someone I can trust and besides, it won't be suspicious at all if I agree to defend _her_."

„Huh? Why would you want to accuse her, pal?", Gumshoe asked and Phoenix grinned. „It's not about accusing her, it's about getting a trial where I can call a certain someone as a witness."

„A trial requires a prosecutor and prosecutors are a scarce commodity right now. Have you taken that into consideration or are you even more of a fool than I thought?"

„Sebastian will do it. We'll put two armed guards at his side to keep him save."

She was satisfied by that. „Good. Who will this witness of yours be?"

He folded his arms, smiling. „Why, the culprint of course. Who else?"

_CRACK_! Not directed at him this time, luckily. „And the culprint _is_?!"

Oh, how nice it was to be the one withholding information from others for once! Part of him wanted to just keep going, to keep quiet about everything and tease her some more.

The other part wanted to stay alive.

Eventually, the second part won. „I don't think you've met her yet. Her name is Lawes. Mara Dabria Lawes, defense attorney."

x

January 26, 09:53 AM

District Court

Defendant Lobby No. 2

x

„I am not comfortable with this."

She didn't look comfortable, either. Not that Phoenix expected her to. Few people were comfortable with being accused of arson, even if it was part of a plan. Athena was not one of them.

„Don't worry. Even if this doesn't work after all, we can prove your innocence in less than a minute. We only need to call Ms. Lawes as a witness so she doesn't suspect anything."

She nodded, but he could see that her heart wasn't in it. He turned to Apollo, hunched over some files Sebastian had given him.

„And?", he asked, not really sure why. And what?

„Calling a witness instantly would be somewhat suspicious", Apollo answered, having found a meaning in Phoenix' completely meaningless question. „But there's not much we can do. We'll have to call her in at the very beginning."

„All right", Phoenix said, not feeling all right in the slightest. Apollo looked at him, brows furrowed. There was doubt on his face... and then it just disappeared.

„Don't you two worry... WE'RE GOING TO BE _FINE_!"

Hearing the famed chords of steel... it _did_ calm him down and he took a deep breath. Relax. This was a trial like any other. They'd bring a criminal to the stand and they would bring her _down_.

„Trial starts in three minutes. If the defense and the defendant would please enter the courtroom..."

Time to play this game... and win. There was an odd silence in the courtroom as they entered, a different atmosphere. Most likely it was caused by the not exactly subtle increase in guards. Most of them were pretty insuspicious... two at the door, one hidden in the audience, one at the defendant's seat... but then there were the two armed men at the prosecutor's bench, standing to either side of Sebastian. Both of them stood silently. When Phoenix stepped up to his bench, one of them shot him a short glance, then decided that he and Apollo were no threats.

They hadn't informed the judge of their plan. Not only was that probably illegal, it was also not exactly smart to spread word of what was meant to be a secret. But now Phoenix started to doubt that desicion. Even the Judge wasn't that much of a fool - he'd certainly notice that something was up.

For now, however, the Judge looked content with the situation. „Trial is now in session for the trial of Athena Cykes. Is the prosecution ready?"

„The prosecution is ready, your Honor." Poor Sebastian, this had to be a nightmare for him...

„Is the defense ready?"

„The defense is ready, your Honor."

„Very good. Your statement, Prosecutor Sebastian."

The prosecutor nodded. He'd started to play with his baton again, probably out of nervosity.

„We... Athena Cykes is acute... sorry... accused of setting the home of Mr. Klavier Gavin on fire..."

Uh-oh. Getting words wrong. Not a good sign. Not a good sign_ at all_.

„...a crime which was commited on the, uh, two days ago at about 10:40 AM... yeah. By her. I think."

„I... see. Now then, what makes you 'think' that?"

„Well... there is... lots of evidence, yes. Lots of it. And a witness. We have a witness who... witnessed it. The fire, I mean. Not the crime. The prosecution would like to call Mara Dabria Lawes to the stand."

Right into the fire. He felt Apollo tense up as she entered the room, looking so innocently green. He wanted to run in and hit her, yell at her for hurting so many people, yell at her for hurting Edgeworth... but he had to stay calm.

„Name and Posession?"

Another mix-up. Sebastian really was nervous.

„Mara Dabria Lawes, Defense Attorney. But I think you already know that, yes?"

The Judge smiled at her. „Indeed! Why, Ms. Lawes, you just keep returning to this court."

„So I do. And what an vacation this is, it's almost like work! Now, how may I help you all?"

_By surrendering_. But he didn't say that. Instead he said: „Well, Ms. Lawes, we'd like you to tell us about the moment when we arrived at the scene of the crime. You were with us, after all..."

„But of course! What had we been doing again? Talking about..."

„...something of no importance. What happened _after_ that, Ms. Lawes?"

„Well, we smelled smoke, did we not? Together we headed over to the burning house. There was quite a crowd there already. One of them called the firemen, I belive, however I do not know who. A woman, I think, but I might be mistaken."

„And then?"

„Mr. Gavin himself arrived at the scene. He was horrified, poor guy. Mr. Justice - that was it, correct? - took him aside as to comfort him. A short while after that, the firemen arrived. I belive they took about, ah... ten to fifteen minutes to put out the flames. After that, my investigative spirit took over and I choose to take a closer look at the scene. Was it that what you wanted?"

No. „Yes. Ms. Lawes, you said 'we' a few times there. By that you mean yourself, me and Apollo, correct?"

„Exactly."

„Have you met Ms. Cykes before?"

„No, this is the first time I've ever seen her."

„And it was when taking a closer look at the scene that you noticed the couch which had been doused in kerosene, correct?"

She nodded. „Yes, indeed."

A moment of silence. Then Phoenix sighed. Looked like it was time now.

„Ms. Lawes, I accuse you of murdering Jacques Portsman, running over Miles Edgeworth, burning Mr. Gavin's house, poisoning Mr. Blackquill and shooting Franziska von Karma."

„**WHAT?!**"

Loud. _LOUD_! The gallery was going _crazy_, the judge was going crazy! The sheer chaos he had created, with one sentence...

„Don't you think that was a little early, Mr. Wright?", Apollo whispered and Phoenix shushed him: „What else was I supposed to do?"

„Order, ORDER, _ORDER_! Do you have any _proof_ for this accusation, Mr. Wright?!"

„Y-yes! Mr... Mr. Wright, you...", Ms. Lawes was searching for words, stuttering as she stared at him, horror in her wide eyes. „You... how can you _say_ such a thing..."

Apollo took over and explained in Phoenix' place. „Your Honor, if I may? We consider this woman to be a suspect for several reasons. First of all..."

He took out his phone and Phoenix caught a glimpse of the screen. It was the list Athena had written.

„What do we know about the culprint? We know that they must be familiar with crime and policework - familiar with the law. We know that they are interested in the law... not only do they only target prosecutors, they did so in a specific order based on the trials. Now, who has been showing a high interest in our law system...?"

„That's completely ridiculous!"

„Lately, the culprint has been changing their pattern. We think this might be because they are running out of time... maybe because they have to catch a plane back to England? When did you say your plane went back again, Ms. Lawes?"

She glared at him. „...In two days. But that doesn't prove anything."

„Of course not. However, the chance that the time limit in question is travel-related becomes more likely once one realizes that the culprint - based on their knowledge, which is mostly good, but sometimes lacking - is most likely not from here."

„Oh my!" The judge clutched his gavel tightly, as if he was worried it might try to run away. „Ms. Lawes, you _are_ from England..."

„Your Honor, so are 54 Million other people."

„Ahem. Indeed, Mr. Justice. I am afraid that, although I admit that everything you have just said applies to this witness, you have yet to show us any real evidence."

Phoenix decided that he had stayed in the background for long enough. Time to take the wheel again.

„That is true. But, we do have a piece of evidence. TAKE THAT!"

Brought his hand down onto the bench as he raised the green piece of cloth up high, smiling proudly.

„This piece of cloth was found in the car that hit Mr. Edgeworth!"

Silence.

Nobody spoke. After a while, Ms. Lawes coughed.

„Mr... Wright", she said very slowly, like she was speaking to a toddler, „you may not be aware of this, but I do not, in fact, own the colour green. Other people can wear it. You should try it yourself, Mr. Wright, it would fit your hair very nicely."

Was this how a tire felt when it was deflated? Ms. Lawes continued: „And besides, wasn't the criminal wearing a disguise at that time? Even if I had been the one driving the car, I wouldn't have been wearing green at all."

„OBJECTION! How do you know that the criminal was in disguise?! You were not involved with that case at all!"

„Perhaps you have not noticed, Mr. Justice, but I have been spending the entire last week informing myself about this country's law system... including, of course, the trials which occurred during that time span. The Judge himself can testify to that."

„I can, yes. I know most certainly that she knows."

Oh.

So what now? Maybe... „We can run a DNA test on this cloth. Then we would know for a fact if it belongs to Ms. Lawes."

But the judge shook his head, beard bouncing. „Mr. Wright, such a test would take a high amount of time and I must admit, I see no reason to bother this poor woman with such a thing. I fear that in order to justify such a long and not to mention expensive test, you must first justify your accusation, something which you have so far completely failed to do."

„I might be able to help with that, your Honor." That was Apollo, who turned to Ms. Lawes without waiting for the Judge's answer. „Ms. Lawes, is there something wrong with your arm?"

She stared at him, biting down on her lip. Phoenix noticed a faint trace of sweat on her forehead and yes, she _was_ holding her arm...

„You have been clutching your arm the entire evening. Athena?"

The girl, still in the defendant's seat, winced sharply. „Augh! W-what?"

„You were there when Ms. von Karma got attacked. You said that she managed to whip the one who assaulted her... now, where did her whip hit?"

She blinked. Then her mouth fell open. „She... she hit the culprint's arm! I'm sure of that!"

Noise in the gallery, lots of noise. „Order! Ms. Lawes, may the court please see your arm?"

She hesitated. But then she shrugged. „Oh, very well. I suppose if it is quite neccessary. I admit that I do have an injury upon my arm." Pulling up her sleeve, she revealed a reddened streak on her skin, all the was up to her shoulder. „However, this is unrelated."

_Excuse me_?! How on earth was she expecting to get away with that?! „Can you prove that your injury is unrelated?"

She responded with a cold glare that could have rivalled Edgeworth's. „It is not me who needs to prove anything, Mr. Wright. An injury is not proof of guilt. That young prosecutor over there has a scar on his finger, but does that prove he got in a fistfight? No, Mr. Wright. It does not."

Huh. Sebastian did have a scar on his finger. It was pretty small, Phoenix hadn't even noticed it until now, but then again, Sebastian usually wore glov...

„**OBJECTION!**" And speaking of Sebastian... first time he'd said anything in this trial.

But oh boy, did he say something... „Ms. Lawes, may I remind you that the last time you stood in this court, you claimed that your bad pair of glasses made you unable to see clearly. Yet you can see the scar on my finger just fine!"

Now she was really sweating. „It..."

„You _what_? Where you lying then or are you lying _now_?"

She struggled, whimpered, searching for a way out... and stopped.

Something... broke, like a Psychelock he hadn't been able to see. There was a smile, sweet and sincere and she shook her head.

„It... appears... that you've got me. You've got me quite well."


	19. Chapter 19

January 26, 10:29 AM

District Court

Courtroom 2

x

„Ms. Lawes! Are you... are you..."

„...admitting my guilt? I am indeed."

Yes! She'd broken down, they'd done it! But there was something... unsettling about her cheerful smile. About the way she wasn't panicking or freaking out... just standing there content with having been found out...

„Now then, your Honor. I, Mara Dabria Lawes, hereby admit to, oh, what was it... the murder of Mr. Portsman, the hit-and-run targeting Mr. Edgeworth, setting Mr. Gavin's house on fire, poisoning Mr. Blackquill and shooting Ms. von Karma. As for my motive... meh. Let's just say that I'm a bad girl. And speaking of bad girls... a 'Not Guilty' for the dear Ms. Cykes, snap snap!" She actually _said_ snap snap.

„Of course! With a confession like that... This court hereby finds the defendant, Ms. Athena Cykes..."

**Not. Guilty.**

But the usual cheering didn't happen. No one was in the mood to clap or throw confetti.

No one except Ms. Lawes herself, who did give a single clap. „My congratulations, Ms. Cykes. Oh, your Honor? Since we're all here already, why don't we get right to the next trial... my trial? After all, putting me into detention for a day and coming back here tomorrow just so I can repeat what I just said is a bit silly, is it not? Surely we can do this now, correct?"

What was... she saying? „You wish to have your trial now, with no preperation? That, ah..."

„...Has happened before. A trial prepared in but one hour for the sake of one Simon Blackquill, correct? And we need no witnesses, no evidence, no preparation." She tapped her fingers, eagerly. „Hasn't this crime spree of mine not taken enough of this court's time? Why waste another day? You fill out some paperwork, I give my confession and we can all take tomorrow off. Hm?"

The Judge pondered it for a moment. Then he nodded. „Very well. This court will take a thirty minute break so that we may get the paperwork ready. After that, you may give your confession."

While Phoenix disliked the way she had taken over the trial, he had to admit that the thought of getting her jailed right here and now was a sweet one. He and Apollo sat the thirty minutes out together until the Judge called them back into the courtroom.

One of the two guards who'd been standing at Sebastian's side had left his post to guard the witness stand instead. Ms. Lawes was waiting there already, a bored look on her face.

The Judge looked a little confused. Nothing unusual, of course, but still...

„Court is now in session for the trial of, uh, Mara Dabria Lawes. The, uhm... Opening sta... no, wait, are defense and prosecution ready?"

Phoenix hesitated a moment. Technically speaking...

"...I'm not sure if I am the defense."

"The prosecution is not ready, your Honor. As for the opening statement, uhm... huh."

Ms. Lawes made a noise of disapproval.

"Now, now, let us treat this quite serious trial more seriously. Surely we can do better that that. Repeat that, please."

"Court is now in session for the trial of Mara Dabria Lawes. Are the defense and the prosecution ready?"

"The defense is ready, your Honor."

"The prosecution is ready, your Honor."

"Your opening statement, Mr. Sebast..."

"Shouldn't we adress him with his proper name?"

Ms. Lawes had wrapped some of her hair around her finger and looked off into the distance.

"W... what?"

"This is a court of law, is it not? We should call him by his legal name, nothing more and nothing else. Mr... Debeste, was it?"

Sebastian whimpered. He hugged his baton, averting his eyes as the first tears began to show. That _rotten_ woman, she knew _exactly_ what she was doing, breaking the one prosecutor she hadn't managed to attack...

Next to him, Apollo was positively _furious_.

„Oh, she... I can't wait to _finally_..."

Meanwhile, Sebastian was struggling to get an opening statement out. Finally, the Judge took pity on him.

„Yes, that will be it for now, Mr... Mr. Debeste, apologies. Ms. Lawes, _please_." His voice was sharper than usual, but she didn't care in the slightest.

"Fine. I will now testify as to how each of these crimes were committed."

She coughed and began, as casually as someone ordering an ice cream cone: "My first victim was Jacques Portsman, but I was not planning to kill him. I had indeed planned to enter the prison on the exact day the security cameras would be switched off in order to murder a former prosecutor, but I had made an error in my research... the man in question has already died several years ago. Having already made an appointment with the warden, I decided to go there anyway. It was by pure coincidence that I came across Mr. Portsman... but I recognized him. Once I realized who I was facing, I acted mostly on impulse... I knocked him out with the nearby pay phone, then choked him to death with the phone cord."

"And you framed Acro."

She nodded.

"Yes. I thought it would be easy to pin the crime on him. But only after I had forged the wheelchair tracks did I realize that I had, during the murder, touched the wall in a spot a wheelchair user could not - or hardly - reach. That ended up hitting me so hard that I left the scene without wiping my prints."

Phoenix blinked.

"Hang on, but then..."

"I was several feet away from the scene, trying to find an guard to begin my little witness number when I realized that I had left my finger prints behind. Luckily I found something nearby... a white scarf, slung over the bars to one of the cells. It's owner was busy painting a picture in oil, too busy to notice that I snatched his scarf. Using that, I went back to wipe the prints. I got some blood on it in the process, but I decided to put it back, hoping that the artist would belive it to be red paint. Once that had been done, I fetched a guard and told him my... testimony."

Up above, the Judge stared down at her.

"The same testimony you gave us in court, Ms. Lawes?"

"Precisely!" Grinning like a shark. „And you took it all in. I was still quite nervous, really. During the trial, that little subordinate of yours caught me biting my lip as I was trying to remember which places I had touched during the murder, so I ended up telling some nonsense... I don't even remember what I answered. Oh, but you did everything for me! You blamed that poor, innocent artist... it was so beautiful!"

„OBJECTION!" Apollo _punched_ the bench, fist hitting the wood. His teeth were gritted together in subdued rage. "Mr. Monet showed a nervous twitch on trial, he _was_..."

"...understandably nervous, because he'd been accused of a crime he wasn't involved with in the slightest. That is to be expected, is it not? May I continue?"

No answer. Apollo swallowed hard and took a step back. Ms. Lawes continued anyway.

"After that, I decided to just keep going. I stole the wallet of Mr. Debeste, rented a car in his name and hit Mr. Edgeworth. I left a piece of green cloth from my dress in the car, apparently, and once the deed had been done, I steered clear from anything related to trials and investigations for day or two to ensure that I would not get called as a witness. Unfortunally, Mr. Edgeworth survived the whole thing."

"And you moved on to Mr. Gavin."

Yet another nod.

„Exactly. Luckily his door wasn't hard to open... it was rather easy to break in. I was under the belief that he was home, for I could hear music playing upstairs... I was wrong in this belief, but you will forgive my rookie mistake. Thus I proceeded as I had planned by dousing the couch in kerosene, placing a fuse and lighting it. Said fuse was not long, but long enough for me to leave. Then I met you, Mr. Wright, and realized how perfect of an alibi it would be to talk to an defense attorney. We chatted and a few minutes later, we _suddenly_ found that Mr. Gavin's house had burst into flames."

She glanced upward and added: „I was somewhat upset when Mr. Gavin showed up alive and well, but seeing him sob _did_ make things better."

„Now hang on." There was a problem there! „You were the one who told us that the couch had been doused in kerosene in the first place! AND you also told us that all victims had been prosecutors!"

She shrugged. „Both of these things were obvious enough. It made you trust me more and I lost nothing."

...

The woman had been playing them all like a piano.

And she didn't look upset or anything! She was... just... just cheerfully confessing! Confessing _still_!

"It was at about this point that I realized that I had a bottle of poison lying around. I had originally planned to kill that jailbird prosecutor with it, a few drops into his coffee. Well, you can not just have something like that lying around, now can you? I was somewhat stumped as of what to do with it until I came across Mr. Blackquill's bike. He'd forgotten his bag there, so... being the devilish advocate that I am, I took a look at it and I found a half-empty bag of jerky, which I dripped the poison in. I must apologize, though... I was aiming for Mr. Blackquill himself only. I had no intention of harming the innocent bird."

"And you left no evidence. How... where did you get the poison?"

"I smuggled it in from England, in a parfume bottle. I took the busiest flight I could find, just to ensure they would rush the check-in and indeed, no one was bothered by it."

Sebastian decided to chip in: "And then you shot Ms. von Karma."

„Yes. But you forced me to do that. It was practically self-defense."

_Defending yourself from self-defense isn't self-defense! _Actually, was it?

„...Well... then...", the Judge slowly said, running one hand through his beard. „I do belive that is everything. Mr. Wright, Mr. Justice, Mr. Se... Mr. D... Prosecutor. Do any of you have anything to add?"

„The Prosecution rests, your Honor."

One last glance to Apollo, but why would they back out now. That was it. Pride swelled in his chest as he spoke the damning words that would put this green menace to rest: „The Defense rests, your Honor."

The Judge pounded his gavel.

„Then a verdict shall be given. This court hereby pronounces the Defendant, Ms. Mara Dabria Lawes..."

„**OH**! Wait, **wait**! I forgot something!"

Ms. Lawes... oh, _now_ she looked panicked? Leaning over the witness stand, nearly throwing it over as she frantically waved with one hand. „I forgot something! There's one more thing I have to confess!"

Was there? He counted the cases on his fingers... no, she'd listed everything, hadn't she? Portsman, Edgeworth, Gavin, Blackquill, von Karma...

„Then please do finish your confession now. I think I speak for all of us when I say that I'd like to close this case once and for all."

„Of course, your Honor. I am very sorry. I forgot to confess to kidnapping Mr. Debeste and holding him hostage."

For a moment, everyone was quiet. Then Apollo decided to voice the thing they were all thinking.

„You... you haven't do anything like that."

And Ms. Lawes smiled.

„No? My most sincere apologies. Let me change that."


	20. Chapter 20

January 26, 11:09 AM

District Court

Courtroom 2

x

Then, with a loud CRASH, she _did_ throw the witness stand over and sprinted forward, dodging the guard in the process. The second guard stepped in her way, drawing his pistol. She crouched and gave him a swift kick _right_ into the crotch and as he bend over in reflex, the side of her hand came down on his neck.

That whole ordeal had taken ten seconds at most. Now Lawes stood at the Prosecutor's bench, the guard's pistol in hand, pressing it against... Sebastian's... head...

Apollo couldn't move. Nobody could move. The prosecutor was crying silently, his face a grimace of fear.

She wasn't going to... no, even she wasn't this crazy. Not in front of the entire courtroom!

..._Right!?_

„Oh dear. This is quite the situation we're in, now isn't it?"

Fully loaded gun resting almost gently against the prosecutor's temple. Her finger on the trigger. Apollo's legs felt like toffee that would give way any moment, dropping him to the courtroom floor in a pathetic heap. She couldn't do that. She couldn't... couldn't...

Ms. Lawes was smiling cheerfully up at the judge. „Please forgive me, your Honor. I did not mean to topple your fine witness stand. Unfortunally I won't be able to stay to put it back up."

She looked around the room, checking the guards. „Now, you fine gentlemen all drop your weapons, yes? Thank you. Kick them over here. _Thank_ you. Your Honor? The Verdict, please."

Shocked silence.

„W-what?"

„The verdict. A 'Not Guilty', of course. I desire to continue my law studies by being at the recieving end of a Double Jeopardy."

Apollo couldn't belive his ears.

_Was that her plan?! How long has she been thinking about this?! _And he was _stuck_ here, unable to do _anything_...

And the same went for the Judge. He gave in instantly. With a defeated sigh, he nodded.

„I cannot in good conscience allow a person like you to walk freely... however, I can also not endanger the life of this young prosecutor. This court finds the defendant, Mara Dabria Lawes..."

**Not. Guilty.**

Never before had these words sounded so hollow to him.

„You have my gratitude, your Honor. Now , seeing how I am offically innocent of all these horrible, horrible crimes - including, if you recall, the one I am committing right now, since I _did_ confess to that..." she rubbed the muzzle of the pistol against Sebastian's hair and Apollo had to clutch onto the bench in front of him, „...I will leave this courtroom and return to my hotel room. I will finish my vacation here and return to England in two days. No one will stop me from doing so. If everybody agrees to play along, I give you a promise not to kill, torture, starve or otherwise _harm_ our dear Mr. Debeste. If you don't play along... well, you'll be cleaning up quite a bit of blood, if I may say so."

Nobody stopped her as she backed out of the room, dragging Sebastian with her. Only a few seconds after she disappeared from view, a shot rang out.

It was at that moment that the last bit of survival instinct still clinging to Apollo's brain shriveled up and died. He pushed his boss aside and _ran_.

_Please be alive. Please, please be alive._

_Please..._

When he threw open the door to the hallway, his eyes settled on a shivering bailiff kneeling next to a small hole in the wall, a bullet hole. A warning shot?

Slowly, unsure of what to do - the short burst of energy that shot had given him had already faded - he followed the hallway over to the defendant lobby. Athena would be waiting there. She had choosen to sit this trial out, as adding another defense attorney would have been too much of a hassle. But he was only halfway there when she came running towards him, stopping only seconds before crashing into him.

„Apollo! What happened?! Ms. Lawes, she just... she..."

Behind him, Mr. Wright stepped up. Even his steps sounded hollow.

„We screwed up, Athena. That's what happened."

x

January 26, 11:57 AM

Dye-Young Hospital

Room 10

x

Phoenix couldn't bear to look Edgeworth in the eyes. But even with his gaze averted, he could feel the prosecutor's icy cold glare. And even worse, he knew very well that it was justified.

It had been his plan. His idea. His _fault_.

What had he _done_?!

„So... _Wright_. Any explanation as to why my protege is currently in the posession of a _murderer_?"

There was no good answer to this, so he just stayed quiet. Edgeworth sighed.

„You... I... Wright, you just..."

He was at a loss for words. Not that he needed them, because at that moment a certain very angry someone stormed into the room with enough force to nearly tear the door off it's hinges.

_CRACK! CRACK!_

„_YOU_! YOU FOOLISH CLUELESS FOOLISHLY USELESS _**IDIOT**_!" _CRACK_!

Even with her shoulder injured, the sting of von Karma's whip on his skin was sharp enough to make him scream. His legs gave out beneath him and he dropped to the ground.

It was at this moment that he realized that up until now, she had always been holding back. Even when she had whipped him into unconciousness after losing her first case, she had been holding back. But right now, right here, she wasn't. Right now she was bringing up as much force as she could muster to make him scream with _every single hit_. _CRACK!_

„Ms... Ms. von Karma!", Apollo yelled and Athena screamed „STOP!" But only when Edgeworth calmy said: „Franziska, please", did she stop.

„You... how dare you...", she growled, but at least she was no longer hurting him. His shoulders, his back, his arms, they all ached like they were on fire.

„How... _dare_... you... endanger... him..."

„Franziska. Calm down. I am _sure_ Mr. Wright has an excuse. A _good one_."

Phoenix looked at the floor, staring holes through it. Maybe honesty was the best policy right now.

„No. No, I haven't. I don't even have a bad excuse. I thought it would work and then it didn't. I put Sebastian's life on the line and I..." _...lost it._ No Phoenix, not yet. He's not dead yet. _Hopefully_.

Edgeworth must have had a similar thought. He averted his hard glare and stared down the light switch instead.

„Franziska? Have all policemen and all detectives get off Ms. Lawes case. If there is even a tiny chance that she will honor her end of the agreement, we have to take it. Our main priority for now is keeping Sebastian safe. Everything else comes second."

She crossed her arms. „Hmpf. I suppose I will inform the detectives that their job is over, then."

„Thank you."

Apollo had begun to walk up and down, his nervosity getting the better of him. „What could we even do?! Even if we somehow managed to free Sebastian without risking his life, she's _innocent_! Not guilty because of double jeopardy! Offically, the crime she is committing right now doesn't even _exist_!"

Ms. von Karma lashed out at nothing in particular, hitting the chair next to Mr. Edgeworth's bed. _CRACK_! „She really is a despicable being. However, we may have some luck informing the British courts of her misdeeds. Double Jeopardy should protect her only from us, not from another nation."

But Athena shook her head. „Still doesn't work. They can't really do much, seeing how she committed these crimes in another country. I guess they could keep an eye on her, but..."

„Hmpf. It still won't hurt..."

„...provided that you do it once she has departed from here and no longer poses a threat to Sebastian", Edgeworth interrupted. „Again, that must be our _absolute_ priority."

Nobody spoke for about a minute, all pondering what to do, how and when. Eventually, Apollo spoke up.

„We... should probably take care of Mr. Monet. Since he's innocent and all. I wouldn't want him to be punished for something he didn't even _do_..."

„Good point. Franziska, do you mind helping Mr. Justice?"

„Why not. At least that way I shall be able to do something. Come along, Apollo Justice. I am not one to waste time on tomfoolery."

Apollo grabbed his bag and gave Phoenix a short nod. Then he and Franziska left, leaving Athena, Phoenix and Edgeworth behind.

It was Athena who eventually found a new topic: „How is Simon? Has he woken up yet?"

„Ah... no, he is unconcious still. Taka has woken up, though. And has repeatedly attempted to enter the hospital to be with his owner. The doctors were less than happy."

She nodded, but it was obvious that she wasn't really listening. „I... I think I... will go visit him. I'll go visit him."

With that, she, too, left the room. Now it was only Phoenix and Edgeworth.

Yet again, there was an awkward silence.

There was nothing he could say. Nothing he could do.

_If Sebastian dies, it's on you. It's all on you. His blood on your hands._

„Wright?"

The concern in that one word. Edgeworth wasn't supposed to sound like this, so... worried.

„Wright, I..."

He gestured on his search for words. „I... am still not quite able to leave this hospital. Even with crutches, the strain on my leg might cripple me for life. I will therefore be forced to rely on you."

Now _he_ broke eye contact, a rare sight for someone so determined to glare everyone and everything into submission. But Phoenix had little time to think about the implications of this, because Edgeworth continued: „Wright... please. I trust you to make this right. I trust you to keep Sebastian safe. Don't do anything... rash. Think before you act, just this once. And _be careful_!"

And with this advice, Phoenix left the hospital to return to the Agency.

Not that being there would be much better. Once he arrived, he found himself alone in an empty house, nothing there but his own cursed thoughts.

There was a package by the door and he picked it up, opened it. An answering machine. Oh yes, he'd ordered that, a hundred years and a few days ago. It felt way too heavy in his shaking hands and while he managed to place it on his desk, he could not muster the strength to plug it in.

If only they hadn't cleaned the office already, maybe that could have served as a distraction. But truth be told, he doubted that. It had worked well in the past, had failed only once... back when Maya had been kidnapped by de Killer. Unfortunally, this situation and his current one were _very_ similar...

At least back then there had been something for him to do. He'd been forced to investigate, to prepare for a trial. He hadn't just been _there_, relying on the mercy of someone who'd proven several times that they had no such thing.

Flopping down at his desk, he tried to figure out something to do. Maybe he could be semi-useful and talk to Klavier? Yes, that was a nice idea. Klavier and Sebastian were friends and Klavier deserved to know about the current scenario. And writing him a message was unthinkable... too impersonal.

He was staying at Apollo's place, wasn't he? Then it would be easy enough to do... walk over there, tell the bad news, go back home. Nice and simple, expect maybe for the part where doing this meant having to explain, _again_, why Sebastian was in danger...

No doubting now. Klavier _deserved_ to know this.

And thus, Phoenix got up, grabbed his jacket and headed outside to visit Klavier Gavin.

He did not get very far. Only a few streets away, about halfway between Apollo's house and the Agency, he caught sight of a familiar figure... one that made his blood boil as he set eyes on her, one that made him want to choke the life out of something, preferrably the figure itself.

She wore a different outfit than she had in court, a long, sleeveless dress - green, of course. Had that really been her first course of action? Changing her _clothes_?! And Sebastian was not with her.

Which was either very good...

...or very, very bad...

How could she look so calm?! So... so _normal_!

And then she noticed him and...

„Oh! Mr. Wright, over here!"


	21. Chapter 21

January 26, 12:47 AM

Walnut Lane

x

Was she seriously... calling to him? Was she seriously acting like _nothing had happened_?!

„_Ms. Lawes_", he said, looking down at her way too cheerful face. „Stop playing games with me, please."

„What? What did I do?"

_Excuse me?!_ Did... did she _seriously_ think...

He gritted his teeth. This was perhaps the most foolishly foolish thing he'd ever done, but then again, he did have a thing about confronting criminals about their crimes and this had to be done, he couldn't just keep _quiet_ and _stand_ here, he had to defy this woman _somehow_ and if talking was the only way for him to do so,_ then he would talk_.

„Look, I know you got yourself off the hook and yes, you won, but that doesn't mean it didn't _happen_. At least be that honest! It's not like you got anything to lose by it."

That last part he added silently, not even sure if she had heard it. But even if she had, she certainly hadn't understood it... or she had and was just ignoring it. One way or the other, she looked at him like he had just offered to eat a motorcycle.

„W-what? Mr. Wright, I..."

„STOP PLAYING STUPID WITH ME!"

She winced and her handbag fell off her lap, down to the ground. Phoenix ignored it.

„I _GET_ it. You're proud of yourself! Fine, do that! You think I _care_? You think _we_ care?! Because _yes_, dammit, we do, that's human nature! Not that _you_ would know _anything_ about that, though, because _whatever_ you are... it's not human! But_ listen up_, okay?!"

He got as close as he could, face to face, eye to eye, his fists raised and teeth bared.

„If you don't fulfill your end of this bargain, if you hurt him or if you come up with some convoluted reason to kill him without breaking the bargain, we will _end_ you. Me, Athena, Apollo, Edgeworth, Franziska, everyone you've _hurt_, we will _join_ and_ work together_ and we..."

„_**I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT!**_"

Her yell was loud enough to make him stagger backwards. She looked at him with wide open eyes, filled with confusion and shock. Everything, from the way she clutched her own hands to the way she was leaning away from him, demonstrated confusion, cluelessness and innocence. But that wasn't what made him stop.

That was a lie. He knew, without a doubt, that that had been a lie. She _was_ lying.

And yet, not a single Psychelock in sight.

And while looking over her, trying his hardest to figure out what had gone wrong, what she had done to block his Magatama, he noticed something which had escaped his sight before, something which was blatantly obvious to tell the truth and was also, to continue telling the truth, really really weird.

Her dress was sleeveless. It showed off her arms very clearly. But there was no red streak, no whip mark...

It took Phoenix a few moments to understand. And then it hit him like a truck.

„Ah... **AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH**!"

Ms. Lawes threw herself backwards. She placed her hands over her ears as he screamed and nearly fell off her seat _again_. „What ON EARTH is WRONG with you?!"

„They tricked us again! We got _everything_ wrong!"

That couldn't... they had... they all... **ARGH!**

„It's _not_ you! It's... Ms. Lawes, I _need_ you to follow me to the Dye-Young Hospital, _now_!"

She crossed her arms. „I am _not_ moving until you explain to me what is happening."

„You... it's complicated? Please just come with me, I'll explain it somehow _eventually_..."

While talking, he pulled his phone out and messaged everyone he could think of. If this was real, if this was actually happening, then...

Oooh, they had a _serious_ problem...

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_Phoenix Wright, 01:26: Come to Dye-Young Hospital. NOW. _

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

That had to be enough. Everything else was too much. He grabbed her hand and pulled her towards their destination and she did not object.

x

January 26, 01:46 PM

Dye-Young Hospital

Room 10

x

„I... I can't see anything", Apollo said and Athena had to agree with him. She could not see anything either. This was... this was _insane_.

Mr. Wright had called her, Apollo and Ms. von Karma to the hospital only to present them with both a highly confused Ms. Lawes and the idea that maybe she was innocent after all. A ridiculous idea, but Mr. Wright could not see any Psychelocks, Apollo hadn't caught sight of any twitches and she herself had just brought up the Mood Matrix... but all of Ms. Lawes' emotions, _**confusion**_ and _**frustration**_ seemed in place and perfectly innocent.

Edgeworth looked at them and bit his lip. „Logic dictates that she is guilty. But..."

„Hmpf. I'll have you know that the absence of the mark that my whip has left on this foolish woman is proof enough for me."

Ms. Lawes looked incredibly anxious.

„I didn't do anything, really! Why would I ever do that!?"

Phoenix nodded, but Athena felt that he wasn't really listening. „The good thing is, since the criminal did get you a 'Not Guilty', you should be off the hook."

She glumly looked at him. „But there is a bad thing, is there not?"

„Well... yes. But, it doesn't concern you, so..."

Athena switched off the Mood Matrix. Blue light flickered and disappeared.

„What is the bad thing then?", she asked. Mr. Wright closed his eyes.

„Sebastian", he said and everyone fell quiet.

Of course. The criminal had promised to release Sebastian before returning to England, but if they were not planning on doing that in the first place...

„Change in plans", Edgeworth whispered. He had gone pale and Athena heard his heartbeat speed up. „Put every detective and every policeman on this task. We have to find him."

„The chance of him being released safely are now extremely low." Franziska. She spoke calm and very matter-of-factly, but she was just as nervous as the rest of them, just better at hiding it. „If we do not act, he will most certainly be killed."

„W-wait!" That was Apollo. „But, if the criminal notices that we're pursuing them anyway..."

„Then we will have to negotiate. If this end with Sebastian dead, then..."

Edgeworth stopped there and hesitated for a moment. Then he gave a glare that could have cut through steel.

„...then I want to be able to say that I did everything in my power to keep him alive."

„Fine. How, then? How will we _find_ him? Literally all our evidence has been false leads. We have no clue who the culprint really is. So how will we _find_ Sebastian?!"

No answer. Then a sigh.

„I... I do not know."

Ms. Lawes spoke up: „But there has to be a way! We simply must do something, we cannot... I cannot... please, there has to be something I can do to help."

Guilt in her voice. It wasn't even her fault! Athena just had to step in.

„Ms. Lawes, it would be very nice of you to join the investigation. We need every help we can get."

The woman looked a little better now, even showed a small smile. It was a sweet moment. Unfortunally it was utterly destroyed when Athena's phone rang.

Great, this was awkward as hell. Time to head into the hallway and ignore the whole 'no phones in this hospital' rule for like the billionth time. Who was even calling her?

...

The caller was anonymous, but that was fine. It was most likely Simon, who positively sucked at every electronic task more complex than using a calculator and had recently managed to fumble his phone into permanently hiding his number with seemingly no way of reversing that change.

...

She didn't realize her error until she had raised the phone to her ear. Simon was still out cold, he was lying unconcious in a hospital bed just one hallway away. He wasn't capable of calling her. And the voice that rang out through the receiver did not resemble his dark, low tone in the slightest. It was soft, sophisticated. Familiar.

„Good evening, Ms. Cykes."

She almost dropped her phone.

Why was _he_ calling her?! Of all the people... why _him_, why now?! This man, he most definitely was...

„S-shelly de Killer", she whispered, glancing around to make sure no one heard. „Y-you..."

„Ah, so you do remember me. I am... pleasured with that. Alas, same cannot be said for you, I fear. Quite a scenario you are in, is it not?"

So it really was him. And he...

Wait. He knew what „scenario" she was in...? So did that mean that...

She just barely resisted the urge to look around a second time to see if he was hiding around the corner.

„Why... why are you calling me?"

There was a sigh.

„A good question. I have my reasons, although mind you, those are my business and mine alone. I am sure you understand. Although I do owe you. After all, you were heavily involved in getting me jailed... so very close to Matt Engarde..."

A shudder went through her body. She, too, had seen the pictures of that crime, the man's mutilated corpse tossed into the corner like a bag of trash. „So..."

„Lies upon lies upon lies, Ms. Cykes. And now there you are, with no evidence and no clues. But I know who you are searching for."

Her eyes widened. No way. Surely he was kidding, right?!

...Yeah, sure. One of the most famous and feared assassins in the world was prank calling her.

„You know who the... the culprint is? Who?!"

De Killer chuckled. It was easily the creepiest sound she had ever heard.

„Well, you could say that he is... a colleague of mine. But not a treasured one. He is crude, unsophisticated. He had no codex, no rules. It's rather annoying, especially since he ruins the trust our clients are meant to have in us. How am I supposed to find business with someone like him around? Really, if you could get him out of my way, I would be much obliged."

Her heartbeat was droning out her thoughts. This was not happening. This _was_ not _happening_.

„Who is it", she whispered, shivering. „Who?"

„...I am afraid I cannot simply tell you his name. I do have my rules. But what I can tell you... is that he is directly related to a certain event that took place recently. There was a relocation of prisoners recently, was there? Inform yourself about that."

_Click._

And with that, he hung up.

Athena noticed that she'd been holding her breath and decided to stop doing that. Her legs were quivering. Without really paying attention, she put her phone back into her pocket.

When she stepped back into the hospital room, the others were dicscussing... something, probably highly important, but she paid no attention. She just plain out interrupted Ms. von Karma, something which she would never have dared under normal circumstances.

„Can I get some information on that prisoner relocation?"

Everyone stared at her, most likely trying to figure out what on earth she was talking about. Mr. Edgeworth coughed.

„As ashamed as I am to admit it, I have very little information on that. Mr. Gavin did most of that in my steed. Perhaps if you were to ask him? I do belive he should have copies of the paperwork. May I ask why you are suddenly so interested in..."

„You wouldn't belive it", she cut him off. „Thank you for the info, though. Apollo, is Mr. Gavin still at your place?"

„Should be. But Athena, why..."

But she didn't even hear that part. Already she had left the room and was heading towards Apollo's home.


	22. Chapter 22

January 26, 02:18 PM

Apollo's house

Front Yard

x

Mr. Gavin looked somewhat surprised when he opened the door for her. „Ach, Fräulein Cykes. What brings you here?"

„Hey Mr. Gavin. I'd like to ask you some question about the prisoner relocation that happened recently. Mr. Edgeworth said you have the paperwork..."

„I do. Please come in, Fräulein Cykes. Would you like some tea?"

„No, not right now. But thanks."

He led her over to the living room and pointed to the couch. „Have a seat, ja? Excuse the mess."

The 'mess' in question consisted of two thick, wooly blankets and a few couch pillows, along with some clothing items strewn over the ground.

„Have you been sleeping on the couch?"

He grinned. „Unfortunally, our dear Herr Forehead does not own a guest bed. But I should not complain." His grin vanished. „Offering me his couch was already more than he had to do."

„He doesn't think that, though. He's wishing he could do more for you", she said with the full knowledge of someone who could hear emotions. And had been feeling a certain emotion regarding the prosecutor. „He's really fond of you, you know?"

A soft blush spread over Klavier's cheeks. „He... he really needn't do more. I'm fine, I... he's really been..."

She could feel that he was uncomfortable and, as much as she wanted to press on, decided to steer away from that subject. „Do you mind showing me that paperwork?"

The prosecutor went right back to smiling, _**relive**_ filling the air at the change in topic.

„Of course not. Wait a moment."

He disappeared and returned a moment later with a stack of papers.

„Here, bitte."

„Danke", she said, which earned her a confused glance. Then she skimmed through the paperwork.

What was she even supposed to find? There were so many documents with so much data! Here, a list with all the prisoners who had been send away...

Lots of names, a few of them familiar. Florent L'Belle, Aristotle Means... then some she had only heard of... but plenty of these. Patricia Rolands, Furio Tigre, Calisto Yew...

Something was weird here. She glanced over to the list of the prisoners who had arrived. No differences. The same names, same order. Nothing there, obviously. And other than that...

No. No, there was something weird right there. „Mr. Gavin? Right up here it says that the total number of inmates send away is 13, but I can only count twelve. And the total number of inmates recieved is also twelve."

_**Concern**_ filled the air. „What? Let me see that."

He read the paperwork over her shoulder. Then he dropped onto the couch.

„Great. If I was not about to be fired for my little outburst in court, I will certainly be fired now. We're going to have to redo the entire thing now and all because of a single spelling error..."

_Was_ it a spelling error, though? And if it wasn't?

„Was this relocation a big event?"

„Oh, and how! Usually it isn't, but there were a few highly prized criminals in this batch. We even had someone from Interpol watching over. Not Ms. von Karma, though."

„Really? So important?"

He nodded. „Yes. Calisto Yew in particular is dangerous. Well, at least that's what Mr. Edgeworth said."

Hm. „And this is all the information you have?"

Another nod. „Ja, it is. You could take a look at the prison archives, but I have to warn you... they are known for being utterly chaotic."

„I'll survive it. Thank you for your help, Mr. Gavin."

She got up. So did he. „Actually... if you do not mind, I would like to accompany you. I've been feeling dreadfully useless these last few days and being cooped up in here doesn't exactly help, ja? It will be easier to get access to the archive if you have a prosecutor with you."

Easy was better, that much she knew. And besides, she'd said it herself... they needed every help they could get. „Then let's go, Mr. Gavin."

Her original plan was the bus, but Klavier proved useful already by offering to take her on the back of his motorcycle. She agreed with some slight nervosity, expecting him to drive like, well... like a rockstar, but he drove like a prosecutor, very slow and sticking to every rule. It was a nice enough ride and she made sure to tell him that much when they arrived. His only response was a grin.

„Now then, Fräulein Cykes. Follow me, bitte."

When they entered the archive, she nearly had a heart attack. The stacks of paper, high enough to reach the ceiling, surrounded her like a cage, threatening to fall down and bury her. Mr. Gavin laughed.

„Yes, I had a similar reaction when I came here for the first time. Relax, our desired document should be somewhere on top."

Not an encouraging thing to say when „on the top" could be anywhere from waist height to two metres above her head. Reluctantly she grabbed one of the smaller stacks and started looking through it.

Aquittals, evidence listings, protocols, contracts, résumés, a _menu card_ for some reason. Oh, there was something about prison relocations... dated twelve years ago. Lovely.

Maybe down here, where buried between the paper sheets was a vaguely rectangle-shaped object. Most likely a desk or a chest of drawers, but it could just as well have been a dead rhinoceros. Athena sat down on it and began to search the mess around it.

„Fräulein Cykes?"

„Hm?"

„Do you think anyone would complain if I took this document home and made a copy of it for myself? I will return it later." He was referring to the two pages he was holding... no, not merely holding but clutching.

„I don't think anyone would complain if you took home twenty documents. I don't think anyone would _notice_. What is that?"

„...Nothing. Nothing important."

He slipped the pages into his bag, not making eye contact. Athena caught part of the title of the first one. _Execu_...

...

Well, it was none of her business.

They spend twenty more minutes searching in silence, interrupted only when Klavier found a spider underneath a folder (and screamed loud enough to make her ears ring for minutes). Only after that did Athena find something. „Oh! I've got it! Look, it's right here!"

„Well done, Fräulein. Anything of interest in there?"

There was the same error there... 13 or twelve? No difference to the list she'd already seen. Perhaps Mr. Gavin's idea of taking a document away wasn't that bad... keeping this sounded rather good right about now. Maybe she could show it to Mr. Wright and Apollo... and in that case...

She hid the paper in her jacket.

"I guess that's it, then", she said. „Thank you for coming along, Mr. Gavin. Do you want to come over to the Agency?"

„Ah... no, not right now. I still have... some business to do here at the prison."

Business to do and brothers to visit, most likely. Athena left him to his... _business _and made her way back to the Agency.

Apollo and Mr. Wright were already there, both uneasy, siting at the table staring at some things.

„Is something wrong?", she asked and Mr. Wright just shrugged. „Edgeworth took Ms. Lawes aside to figure out if the criminal picked her randomly or not. He says maybe that can get us started. And Ms. von Karma is combing over the crime scenes, again. Hasn't found anything yet."

„We were just looking over our evidence, trying to see if we can find what's legit and what's fake", Apollo added. „No luck so far. But where were _you_?! You just... ran off for no reason! Was it because of the phone call? What _happened_?!"

...Better not to tell them she had been contacted by an assassin. Besides, if de Killer had called her on his own volition, then he was most likely trusting her not to instantly sic the cops on him... and betraying de Killer's trust was really just a convoluted way to commit suicide. „The phone call wasn't really important."

Mr. Wright gave her a weird look. She noticed his hand in his pocket, clearly closed around something, and could almost feel the weigth of the seven million Psychelocks that had clearly just appeared around her. But Mr. Wright didn't object.

„So, uh..." Concentrate, Athena. „I also took a look at the, uh, inmate relocation thing. There's a spelling error there, or at least Mr. Gavin says it's a spelling error. I'm not so sure, but... uh, you know someone who might know more?"

Oh, her colleagues were getting a nice show, weren't they? Apollo, at least, decided to let it slide.

„Did you check the prison archives?"

„Yes, that's where I got this document." She placed it on the table for the two men to see. „But it didn't help. Isn't there a better way to get information?"

Mr. Wright blinked. „Information...?"

He got up and stood up straight, a rare sight. It was amazing how much... stronger he looked when he did that, how much more... lawyer-y. There was something in the way he moved now that was completely unlike the luck-kissed, borderline insane nutcase she was used to. And hopefully he would never learn how she had just described him.

„Athena, how important so you consider this?"

„Very, Mr. Wright. But, uh, I can't say why." Jackpot, Athena. You are an idiot.

But it had worked. Phoenix grabbed his phone and the document and smiled. „I'll head outside, see you in a moment."

x

January 26, 03:09 PM

Wright Anything Agency

Front Yard

x

Phoenix blinked as he stepped outside. It was insanely bright for some reason, or maybe things had just looked dark to him lately. One way or the other, he couldn't see. He had to wait a minute until his eyes adjusted.

Athena. An interesting girl, full of surprises, really. Who knew what she had done? But he trusted her; if she considered this to be important, so be it.

Where had he saved it... ah, there. Carefully, he pressed a few buttons on his phone and called the number Ms. von Karma had given him... a source of information.

It took forever for someone to pick up. He was about ready to hang up and try again when someone answered. It was a man, with a sharp voice that sounded... inhuman? It resembled howling or maybe barking and he introduced himself with a short: „What?"

„Uhm..." _Make sure they know you are calling in my name_ she had said, so... „My name is Phoenix Wright. I'm calling with the permission of Franziska von Karma."

There was a groan on the other end of the line. „_Really, von Karma_?! Ugh... fine. And what color is the sky out there where the lonely wolf howls?"

What? Oh, yes. „Royal purple."

A moment of silence. „...Zang Li says: Words can never tell you all about a man. You got anyone to vouch for you? I just got permission to have a team again. I am not risking anything."

Oh darnit. She hadn't mentioned this. „I..."

„I've never even heard of you. Proof of identity?"

What, was he supposed to send his freaking passport through the phone? „How? I'm a defense attorney, if that's what you want to know."

„Hm. Would make sense for her to know a defense attorney or two."

„Good. Then..."

„NOT SO FAST. I said it _makes sense_ for her to know a defense attorney. Knowing someone it hardly the same thing as trusting them with highly dangerous phone numbers. If you can't do anything to prove you are trustworthy, not my problem."

Great. „I know the chief prosecutor. We are friends."

A hoarse laugh, like barking. „Friends with the Pretty Boy? Don't make me laugh."

So this person knew Edgeworth? That was a step forward. But he didn't seem fond of Edgeworth, which was a step backward.

„Listen, Mr. 'Wright'. As far as I know, the smarty-pants Chief Prosecutor has a total of one friend and that one is a crow-girl with sticky fingers. You don't sound nothing like that. He never mentioned you, so forget it."

Crow-girl? Kay Faraday! So he knew _her_, too?

And thinking back to his first meeting with her... a memory came back, a very valuable memory. If this man knew Edgeworth, then perhaps he also knew about...

Phoenix found himself with a _devillish_ plan and an equally devillish grin.

„Oh, I'm sure he mentioned me once or twice, just not by name. I am _that man_."


	23. Chapter 23

January 26, 03:14 PM

Wright Anything Agency

Front Yard

x

...

There was a very strange sound on the other end of the line, like a wolf being strangled mid-howl.

„Uh, hello?"

„You... are... not... that... there's not way you _really_..." The person on the other end struggled to find words. „Frilly Boy never shut up about you! It was always 'That Man did this', 'That Man would do that', 'That Man told me stuff'... I thought you were his imaginary friend or something! Do you really have an assistant who can contact dead people?!"

_It works._ Of course, how could he have forgotten? After everything Kay had told him...

„Not with me right now, but yes."

„And... the part where you fell off a burning bridge into a river..."

„Happened."

„You defeated a criminal with a flower pot...?"

Had he? „...I think that one might be wrong."

The next sentence was so loud, Phoenix nearly dropped the reciver. „YOU _THINK_?! You AREN'T SURE whether or not you defeated a CRIMINAL with a FLOWER POT?!"

„I had a lot of cases!"

Another strangled noise. Phoenix couldn't help himself, he had to laugh. „Did he tell you about the time I defended an Orca?"

„You..." The other person cut himself off. When he spoke again, he seemed to have caught himself.

„Shi-Long Lang, Interpol. What do you need?"

Oh. **OH**! _That_ explained the secrecy and... Franziska had given him the phone number of Interpol?! Either she trusted him _a lot_ more than she would ever be willing to admit or she was trying to get him killed.

„I... I need some information on the prisoner relocation that happened recently. It's important." At least to Athena.

„Give me a moment."

The sound of footsteps. Then a door.

„Here. Now, what do you want to know?"

„How many prisoners were send away?"

„That's all? Thirteen. I was there."

Phoenix looked down at the document. 13 departed. Looked fine enough.

Actually, wait. 13 departed, but there were only twelve names. And on the list of arrivals? Twelve arrivals. Was that the spelling error? But if Mr. Lang _also_ said that it were 13...

„The list I have here only has twelve names on it. And according to it, only twelve prisoners arrived..."

„WHAT?! Show me that!" _How_? „Okay, listen up, Boy! I'll read you the names I've got here and YOU tell me who's missing from your list."

„Okay. I'm ready."

„Florent L'Belle."

„Got him."

„Furio Tigre."

„There."

„Calisto Yew?"

„Also there."

„Good so far. Aristotle Means?"

„On the list."

„Patricia Rolands?"

„She's there, too."

„The Phantom?"

...

It all fell into place.

Disguises and masks, trickery and deception. And hadn't they wondered about the criminal's courage? A fearless fool they had called him... fearless, indeed...

And the Phantom was a member of a criminal organisation, working hand in hand with powerful illegal forces, forces who were most likely less than happy about the new and improved law system with new and improved Prosecutors. Get rid of them all and the Dark Age of the Law kicks right back in...

„Wright?"

„He's missing..." Of all the people to escape! On his own? Or with help? The documents he was looking at had to be forged, then, with only one small oversight. Easy enough with the copies given to prison and prosecutor, less easy with the ones owned by Interpol. „He's not... not on this list. At all."

There was a string of curses from Mr. Lang, some of them in a foreign language. The outburst lasted nearly a minute. Then...

„YOU HAVE TO ALERT ALL POLICE FORCES, NOW! IF HE HAS REALLY ESCAPED, THEN..."

„He has. We can't just send the police after him, he has a hostage." That said, hopefully he still had a _hostage_ and not a corpse... wrong thing to think off, wrong thing to think off!

„Then find him! I need to call someone!"

_Click_. And that was it.

They were in serious trouble.

x

January 26, 03:32 PM

Wright Anything Agency

x

When Phoenix explained the new discovery to his subordinates, they reacted... very differently. Apollo sat with his fists and teeth clenched, trembling with barely constrained fury, his large forehead wrinkled and his brows furrowed. Athena, on the other hand, froze on the spot. She was motionless and silent, staring right through Phoenix and the wall behind him and everything else in the world, staring at something that was invisible to everyone who wasn't her. Maybe even to her.

„He...", Apollo growled, a genuine growl, „he... that..." And that was all he managed.

Let's just think about this. The Phantom had lost favour with his original... _friends_ after they had tried to snipe him. Likely, then, that he had joined a different team for protection. Or was this whole thing his own idea? Both very much possible.

What about his real identity? If he remembered correctly, they'd taken a DNA sample after catching him, but even with that only a handful of people knew who the Phantom really was. Was that going to be helpful?

That depended on what the Phantom was doing and who he was working with. Both of those things were impossible to find out. And he could be everyone, everywhere, at any given moment. It sent a shiver down Phoenix spine to think about it. With the Phantom up and about, no one could be trusted.

„We should... tell Mr. Edgeworth", Athena mumbled. She was still frozen, not moving anything but her lips. „Important."

Oh god, poor girl. Apollo gave her an awkward pat on the arm. She didn't budge.

But she was right. Edgeworth, Franziska, Gumshoe, they all had to know about this turn of events. They would have to...

Somebody knocked at their door with the force of a hurricane, derailing his train of thought and baffling him completely for a minute there. The banging continued, mercilessy, until he had enough brain power back to open the door.

Before him stood, panting and with a red face, Ms. Mara Dabria Lawes, but she wasn't alone. Next to her, being pulled by her sleeve, was Lotta Hart, who looked highly annoyed with the whole thing.

„Mr... Wright... I...", Ms. Lawes gasped and yanked Lotta inside, ignoring the woman's fierce protest. „I... have... found... need to..." A broad, hectic wave in Lotta's direction. „Witness."

„What'cha even talkin' about? I witnessed nothing, I oughta know that!"

She was struggling, but Ms. Lawes refused to let go. Phoenix raised his hands.

„Ooookay, calm down. Uh, sorry Ms. Lawes, but is this important? We're busy and..."

„Very important!"

Lotta scoffed. „There ain't nothing important here... oi, you gotta help me, yeah? This gal's gone straight insane!"

Apollo had gotten up and stepped up close. „What happened?"

„Well, I was snapping me a few pictures outdoors and this lady here done noticed it, so she comes up an' gives me a ton o' legal nonsense 'bout how she's allowed to see the pictures if she's on it. Me reckons it ain't worth the trouble, so I showed her the pictures I been taking and all outta nowhere she goes crazy and drags me here! That ain't legal!"

Pictures? „Can I see these pictures?"

„Knock yerself out. Here."

He took her camera - carefully, for he knew that she would not hesitate to charge him money for every scratch - and clicked through her pictures. Crowd scenes, taken in Vitamin Square, it seemed. It was surprisingly busy there, was there a special event of some kind?

„The seventh picture, Mr. Wright", Ms. Lawes whispered and finally let go of Lotta's arm. The seventh picture? What about it? It was the same place and scene...

„Aw crap, you're on that one too? Y'all gotta be kiddin' me."

Was she? Yes, Ms. Lawes was...

...in the background, and...

...the young man next to her...

„That's _them_! Mr. Wright, that is the... the criminal!"

Apollo pushed him aside and Phoenix almost dropped that camera, nearly dooming himself to a lifetime of debt. „It is?! Let me see that..."

In the background of the picture, one could clearly see what _looked_ like Ms. Lawes entering a building. But at her... or rather, at his side was Sebastian, being pushed into the room.

„That is an abandoned warehouse." Athena. Feeling better, it seemed. „A good place to hide something. Or some_one_. Apollo, what is _wrong_ with you?"

Apollo was grinning widely. It was a childish, cheerful grin, happy as could be. „Don't you get it? Sebastian's alive! And the Phantom wouldn't bother hiding him if he was just planning on killing him! He's going to be fine! _We're_ going to be fine!"

„WOAH, woah! My apologies! The Phantom?"

Of course, Ms. Lawes... „I'm sorry. The Phantom is..."

„I am aware of who he is! But... you mean that it is him who is behind this all? Mr. Wright, I must ask for an explanation."

„It's... complicated, but yes, it's him. I don't know what we do now either, but..."

Didn't he? Oh, please. There was one course of action and one only. The Wright Way: Head first into danger.

But not without backup. Edgeworth was out, he was still in the hospital. Generally, a prosecutor was perhaps not the best idea... if there was one thing that had been proven, it was that the Phantom didn't care about killing prosecutors. So, who else?

Gumshoe, Gumshoe was a good choice. He'd have to call the good detective in.

„I don't know what y'all are talkin' 'bout, but ya better belive I'm havin' a part in it. I ain't letting up on ya that easily."

Arguing with Lotta Hart? Hopeless. Athena tried anyway and sure enough, she lost near instantaniously. Looked like Ms. Hart was joining them, for one. Not neccessarily a bad thing. She had a tendency to snap pictures of important stuff. Case in point...

Only now did he realize how insanely _lucky_ they had been, again. The universe had thrown a hint their way just when they had needed it the most. The universe, it seemed, liked him.

Edgeworth sometimes commented on Phoenix' incredible luck and slowly but surely, Phoenix understood what he meant by it. The lucky stars shone brightly for Phoenix Wright, the Turnabout Terror who had earned Fortuna's favour somehow.

Time to take that luck and make it count.


	24. Chapter 24

January 26, 04:47 PM

Vitamin Square

x

„That there's the warehouse, y'all."

The park was still crowded. The reason for it was a small magician show. Trucy would have loved it, if only to point out all the mistakes the performers were making.

„You should stay behind me, pal", Gumshoe said as he stepped up to the door. „Might be dangerous."

Phoenix had to make sure to thank Gumshoe later. He'd pretty much just called the Detective out of nowhere and Gumshoe had dropped everything he'd been doing just to lend a hand. Now it was him, Detective Gumshoe, Athena, Apollo, Ms. Lawes and Lotta.

They all obeyed Gumshoe's orders and gathered behind the detective, watching as he tried the door.

„Locked, pal. Want me to break it down?"

„No, don't. Too noisy. Any other way to get in?"

„Y'all oughta step aside, me's fixin' to deal with that there lock."

With that, Lotta reached out and placed a... small, metallic object in the lock. A... lockpick? Surely not...

_Click._

„There, ain't no problem. That there's the same type of lock as the one on Klavier Ga... well, I done opened those before."

Apollo gave her a shifty look. „I'm starting to see why he got angry at you in court."

„Aw, y'all ain't bein' nice. I reckon y'all should thank me for opening that door for ya!"

„You got it! Thanks, pal!", Gumshoe laughed and completely ignored the fact that she had just pretty much admitted to commiting a crime.

But at least they could enter now and nobody had noticed them. One by one, they followed Gumshoe into the dark, grey warehouse.

It sure looked abandoned. The one window, a slit up high just below the ceiling, had been shattered. A thick layer of dust covered the ground in most places, along with some moldy cardboard and forgotten crates. Spiders had spun their webs in every nook and cranny and looked down at the little group from thousands of beady eyes, crawling in and out from the darkness with spindly legs. A rat hushed across the floor.

„Such a waste of space", whispered Athena, her silent voice still loud enough to echo in the empty hall. „Isn't there anything you can do with this building?"

It was off-topic, but chances were that she was just trying to distract herself. Besides, she was right, this was a waste of space.

„There's another door over there." Apollo pointed at the other side of the room, but Ms. Lawes shook her head.

„That doesn't lead to another room, though", she whispered back. „It's just an emergency exit, see?"

Phoenix nodded. „Alright, let's start searching. Everything might help."

Lotta headed for the emergency exit and started fiddling with the lock, just to be sure. Athena climbed a stack of cloth-covered crates and looked out through the broken window. Apollo pushed boxes and trash aside. Ms. Lawes raised the cloth from the stack Athena had climbed and disappeared beneath it. Gumshoe stayed at the door, one hand on his pistol.

That left Phoenix, who headed back outside to check the shrubbery surrounding the entrance. But alas, nothing but leaves and branches.

Branches that were all rather dark, save for _one_...

He reached in, hissing as some thorns tore through his skin. Then he pulled back and was holding a branch, a stick, a...

..._baton_.

No doubt about it, this was Sebastian's. Cherry tree wood, distinctively carved. Hard to mistake. Dropped on accident or on purpose? Other than that, the bushes were empty.

There was a soft noise from inside and he headed back in, just in time to watch Gumshoe pull an insanely large crate aside which had been blocking a hatch in the ground.

„...not unusual", Apollo commented. „Many warehouses have a basement of sorts, so..."

„No lock, just a slide bolt. And it ain't rusty, pal. That's pretty suspicious if you ask me."

„What'cha waitin' for? Open it!" Camera raised like a weapon, Lotta was ready for her next scoop. The rest of them was equally ready.

With a squeak, the hatch opened, revealing a ladder that went down into the dark...

„...Anyone remember to bring a flashlight?"

„Sorry, pal. No can do."

„I... no, Mr. Wright."

„Me neither..."

Eventually they found exactly one light source - the light on Lotta's camera. It was tiny, weak and approximately as bright as a black hole, but it was just barely better than nothing.

Down the ladder, way too frail and wobbly for Phoenix' tastes. He wasn't fond of ladders, as much as he liked to be pendantic about what they were called, and not seeing were he was climbing didn't exactly make it better.

A muffled sound in the dark below. Phoenix feet hit the floor and he stepped aside, allowed Apollo and Athena to follow. Lotta raised her camera, the small beam of light flitting through a large basement, empty safe for a few pallets, a torn net and two cloth bags.

There was nothing on the pallets or inside the cloth bags. But the net was wrapped around... something. Something which was _moving_.

It was Apollo who ran over there as fast as his legs could carry him, Apollo who practically tore the net apart to reveal the bound and gagged figure tangled inside of it and Apollo who pulled Sebastian into a sitting position before carefully removing both the ropes binding him and the piece of cloth stuffed into his mouth. It was Apollo who shook the shivering prosecutor, calling out his name.

„Sebastian!"

They had actually found him.

x

January 26, 05:37 PM

Wright Anything Agency

x

They had brought Sebastian to the agency. He wasn't injured, only exhausted and scared, and so they had placed him on the couch so he could calm down. Now he sat there, hugging himself ever so gently, still shuddering.

„I'll call Mr. Edgeworth, pal", Gumshoe offered. „He gonna want to know that Sebastian is safe." Not waiting for an answer, he grabbed the phone and dialed for his boss.

Ms. Hart had brought up her Laptop and was looking through the pictures she'd taken, barely containing her glee at having gotten herself a scoop. Ms. Lawes was huddled together at Mr. Wright's desk, absentmindetly toying with Trucy's Magical Disappearing Invisible Elephant. Phoenix had disappeared into the next room to make some coffee. Apollo was sitting at Sebastian's side, wordlessly comforting him.

Athena got up and headed over to Sebastian's side. Tearstains on his face, naturally. Poor guy.

„Don't worry, Sebastian, you're safe."

A weak sob. „I... I am fine... thank you, I'm just... ugh..." He rubbed his eyes. „I mean, it's, it's not like this is the first time I've been..."

Been what? In danger? Kidnapped? A victim? How much had he been through?!

It occurred to Athena that Sebastian was the exact opposite of Klavier. While Klavier was always cheerful and happy, masking his sadness with a grin, Sebastian was always crying, making it hard to see whether he really was in distress or just... being himself. Neither of these things were neccessarily healthy and both of these things screwed with the Mood Matrix. All things considered, there should have been _**Fear**_ and _**Sadness**_, but there was no such thing. There was nothing at all, in fact. Too shocked to even feel. Not ususual, but that didn't make it less troubling. Perhaps she should take a close look at the nearby therapists, just in case.

„I... I'll be all right. Just..." And his voice broke. „Just... give me a moment...

„Uh, okay, so..."

Gumshoe had finished his phone call and looked over to them. „Edgeworth wants to see you, pal. Like, instantly."

Sebastian sniffed. „He must be so worried..."

„Do you feel like you can walk? Or..."

„N-no... I'm fine... I can... I can walk..."

He got up, legs quivering, drying his tears with his sleeve. Athena dug through her pockets and found a half-empty pack of tissues. He mumbled a weak „t-thanks..." when she handed them over.

„If you think you can make the trip, we shouldn't let him wait", Apollo suggested. „He's probably sick with concern."

It was hard to imagine Edgeworth sick with concern. But yes, if one concentrated hard enough, if one really tried to picture it, then...

The Chief Prosecutor was all bite and no bark, usually, but he _did_ have a soft core. And it wasn't physically possible _not_ to worry about Sebastian. Everyone who was capable of having emotions was basically _forced_ to care for him.

„Ms. Lawes, will you come along? You've been heavily involved in all of this, so it would be only fair to..."

„Yes, I belive I will. Thank you very much, Mr. Wright. I'd rather prefer not to be alone as of now, seeing how the Phantom is still at large."

„And Ms. Hart, if you want to leave now, you can..."

„Fat chance, Mr. Wright! I ain't giving up me scoop just like that! I reckon if I keep taggin' along I'm gonna get me somethin' even bigger that what I already got!"

For the third time today, Gumshoe squeezed them all into his tiny little car - a clear violation of pretty much every single law about vehicles that had every been written, especially once Ms. Lawes volunteered to curl up in the trunk - and drove them all off towards the hospital. And lucky they where that he was there, because even Maggey, nice as she was, would have turned down such a high number of visitors - the normal limit was three at a time - if it hadn't been Gumshoe who had asked her. But with things as they were, they all found themselves in Room 10 once more, crowding around Mr. Edgeworth's bed like a group of rabid fangirls. Of course Athena couldn't help but ask how Simon was doing, but nothing had changed... he was still unconcious. Part of her wanted to run over, to see how he was doing and just sit at his bed, but she _could_ restrain herself.

Besides, that would have caused her to miss the sight of Mr. Edgeworth's face, of the sheer relief that radiated through every corner of the room when Sebastian stepped in. There were no words, no need for words, no need for speech - just emotions. Athena was bathing in them.

A flash pulled her back into reality; Lotta had snapped a picture. Well, they all had different ways of dealing with sweet moments...

„...you, Wright." Oh, she had been wrong. There had been words, she just hadn't listened. „I knew that I could rely on you."

„Don't thank me, thank these guys." A wave indicating every other person in the room. „I was just kind of there."

„Don't say that, pal! You did grea..."

**WHAM!**

Luckily no one had been standing in front of the door, else that person would not have been able to leave the hospital for a long time. Franziska had thrown it open with enough power to leave a dent in the wall, _again_. Perhaps she had some sort of rivality with doors.

„Sebastian!", she yelled, whip crashing against the ground. _CRACK!_ „_Are_ you in one piece?"

Sebastian stared at her like a scared deer. „Y-yes! Ms. von Karma..."

„Excellent." She spun around to face Gumshoe, a perfectly perfect look of professionalism on her face. „Then we may attempt to subdue the Phantom once again. Scruffy, I expect you to send out each and every Detective possible."

„N-now? This sudden? But Sir, I can't..."

_CRACK!_ „Are you the Head Detective of Criminal Affairs or not?! Get to it!"

„A-ah! Yes, Sir! Of course, Sir! I'm on it!"

„Good. Now, have any of you found something of use?"

„I got me some pictures", Lotta offered. „There were some footprints in the dust there, but I reckon they ain't gonna be much help, what with them being not really clear. 'Sides, I kinda doubt that someone that work with disguises and stuff will just keep wearing t' same pair of shoes."

Only now did Franziska notice her. Her grip on the whip tightened. „You will show me these pictures immediately."

„Oi, no need to rush it! Gimme a minute, I... here. Take a gander, will ya?"

She held out her camera for Franziska to see. The prosecutor straightened.

„I wish to have printed versions of these pictures by tomorrow. Do not disappoint."

„Yeah yeah. Geesh, you're rude!"

Athena decided not to mention how rude Ms. von Karma could get. Instead she stepped aside to let Gumshoe pass by on his way out. „Do we have any other clues?"

Edgeworth closed his eyes and leaned back, an aura of professionalism around him.

„That... depends on him."

And he reached out and pointed at Sebastian.


	25. Chapter 25

January 27, 10:12 AM

Dye-Young Hospital

Room 10

It was amazing, Apollo thought, how much a single night of sleep could do. Already he felt better, refreshed and awake.

The others looked similar. Athena, Mr. Wright, Ms. von Karma, Sebastian and of course Mr. Edgeworth. He was sitting on his bed when they came in and actually got up.

„Ah, it appears we all have arrived. Ms. Lawes would like to excuse herself, she has joined Detective Gumshoe in his investigations. We will be informed, should they find anything, however I doubt that they will succeed this quickly."

Mr. Wright grinned. „Oh, don't be too sure of that, you never know. Looking good, Edgeworth. You can stand again!" For a moment there, he looked like he was just about to embrace his rival, but nothing happened. Edgeworth just nodded.

„Yes, I do belive I shall leave this hospital tomorrow."

„About time", Ms. von Karma stated, head held high. „It is unbecoming for someone in your position to stay hospitalized this long, Miles Edgeworth." She said this with the full power of someone who'd been shot in the shoulder by an assassin and had only spend one day at the hospital because of it. Twice.

Edgworth held her gaze in an impromptu staring contest. After about thirty seconds of staring, they both glanced away simultainously.

„Ahem. But let's move on. Sebastian, how do you feel?"

A shaky smile. „I'm okay, I... I think..." He sniffed. „I'm fine."

„Yeah, you're fine!", said Apollo and Athena chuckled.

„I'm glad to see you feel better. Now, I understand that this might be difficult for you, but I need you to tell us, in detail, what happened after the Phantom gr... are you sure you are okay?"

Sebastian had winced at the mention of the Phantom's name. Now he took a deep breath. „Y-yes, Mr. Edgeworth. I'm fine, I'm sorry. I'm okay. I... I can tell you about... I can tell you."

Still, he hesitated a second. But then he spoke up and everyone fell quiet and listened.

„After the... after the Phantom dragged me out of the courtroom disguised as Ms. Lawes, he grabbed me by the wrist and told me to follow him. He said that if I'd try to run or fight, he'd shoot me, s-so... I obeyed..." He sobbed and it took a minute until he spoke again. „He took me over to a car and locked me in the trunk. Then..."

„What kind of car", Franziska interrupted him and Apollo cursed himself for not having reacted faster. Sebastian bit down on the tip of his baton and mumbled: „Well, it was... purple and had black seats... Oh! There was a scratch on the left side, right above the front wheel!"

Apollo pulled his notepad from his pocket and was surprised to see Mr. Wright do the same thing. Had he finally, at long last, managed to buy one? That was almost worringly professional of him.

Athena seemed to think the same thing. „Look at the boss", she whispered, „he's acting like a _lawyer_. Think we should call for help?"

„Maybe he's the Phantom", Apollo whispered back and she giggled. Franziska glared at them.

„Continue, Sebastian", she snarled and held up her whip. Apollo quickly stepped back, trying to figure out whether or not he was out of range.

„He drove over to Vitamin Square and led me over to that old warehouse. There he put me downstairs into the basement and just... left me there... and..."

_Now_ he broke down and Mr. Wright stepped up and helped him sit down next to Edgeworth. „There you go..."

„T-thank you..."

Edgeworth, apparently without even noticing, placed his hand on Sebastian's shoulder. „It appears that for now, our biggest clue would be the car. Can you not remember anything else about it?"

„N-not really. Purple, black seats, a scratch... I think one of the hubcaps was missing?"

Athena cut in. „Bright purple or dark?"

„Dark. Sort of a reddish plum purple."

Edgeworth nodded. „An unusual color for a car, certainly. That will make things easier."

„But I didn't catch the licence plate. I... I'm not even really sure if the car _had_ one..."

„We will make do without it."

Ms. von Karma coughed. „I also have this", she stated and pulled a photograph from her pocket. „Courtesy of the... _kindhearted_ young photographer who unfortunally cannot be with us today."

Poor Lotta. Apollo hoped for her sake that she was still in one piece.

„It merely shows a few dusty footprints, but I handed them in anyway. I do belive that they are being analized at this very moment, but for now we shall have to work with what we have. Sebastian, may I see your shoes?"

He raised his feet and she cocked a brow. „Are those the same shoes you wore yesterday?"

„Yes..."

„Then these footprints are not yours, as expected. It stands to reason that they are the Phantom's. However, I must admit that I am uncertain how useful that information will be."

„It's better to have it", Apollo said and Athena nodded. „Who knows what it'll be useful."

The prosecutor crossed her arms. „Very well. I have seen for myself what Phoenix Wright, foolishly foolish as he may be, can do with seemingly worthless evidence."

„Taking that as a compliment."

„It was meant to be one."

Phoenix' mouth fell open and he stared at Ms. von Karma with an expression of utter disbelief on his face. She decided to ignore him. Instead, Sebastian spoke up again.

„I..."

He stopped. His hands curled around his baton, bending the tip back and forth.

„I... might have another detail, actually. But I'm... I'm not certain. I don't know..."

„Every little thing helps, Sebastian." Encouraging words from Edgeworth. „Please, do tell us everything."

„When he left me in the warehouse, he... was talking to someone, I think. P-probably a phone call..."

Apollo was on it like a rabid fox. „That... that might be whoever he works for! The group behind it all... behind him! Did you hear anything they said?!"

Sebastian winced a little at the sudden noise and Apollo backed off immediately. „Sorry. But... did you?"

A defeated headshake.

„Not really. I only heard him talking, no... no details. I'm sorry..."

„Don't be, Sebastian, you did your best. Try to focus, okay? Anything else you can remember?"

„No. That was the only thing left and I'm not even sure it's really true. I couldn't really concentrate..."

Athena offered him a smile. „That's fine, you're doing great."

„You are indeed." That was Edgeworth. „I distincively remember the last time you found yourself in a situation like this. You were significantly more... troubled by it."

Sebastian smiled. „True. I... I suppose you can get used to _everything_..."

_True words. One can get used to everything. One can get used to murders, death, criminals. How long has it been since I sat at my desk at the academy, talking about murder cases like they'd never happen to me? How long since all this here was nothing but words on paper and rethorical problems? Why don't they teach you the _truth_ at school, about how _hard_ it all feels at first and how _thick_ your skin becomes after time?_

And then you look back at a past devoid of killers and ask yourself: _what was I doing back then?_

Apollo had no clue.

Different question, though, more important. What was he doing now? Standing here, staring. That had to change. He had to do something.

Ms. von Karma had stepped aside and was joining the evergrowing circle of people who ignored the „no phones" rule. She spoke quietly, but he could still hear some details... apparently she was telling Detective Gumshoe about the car.

„...this down, Scruffy, otherwise..."

He didn't understand the rest, but chances were that the poor Detective wouldn't get flowers and chocolate „otherwise".

„Can you maybe see if they already got these footprints analyzed?", he asked. „They might be finished with that."

She nodded. „Good thinking. Scruffy? Hand me over to Forensics." Then a moment of silence. „I have handed you a picture of footprints earlier. Tell me what you have found out." More silence.

„I see."

She lowered the phone, covering it with her hand. „This shoe brand is called Kronecker, an Austrian brand. They are common enough in Germany, but it surprises me to find them here."

„Might help us, then", Phoenix suggested. „Probably pretty rare."

„Precisely." _CRACK_! Hitting the wall for no reason. „Perhaps this foolish fool has gotten in his own way. We shall keep an eye on it." And, speaking into the phone again: „Continue research."

Sebastian tapped Apollo's shoulder while Edgeworth took the phone from his sister. „Apollo?"

„Yes?"

„Did, uh... did anything else happen while I was, well... g-gone? I, uh..."

Apollo went through it in his head. „Not really. We figured out that the Phantom was behind it all, but, heh, guess you already know that. What else? Uh..."

He shrugged. „Klavier is all right. Blackquill is still unconcious, I think. And, uh... well, you can see the rest."

„I suppose. I was just, you know... wanted to make sure." He sighed. Already there were the first tears getting caught in his eyelashes. „Things are all happening very quickly right now."

It really was. Their cases never were content to unfurl slowly. They always broke through like a flood wave and faded just as fast. Leaving behind... leaving behind destruction and despair. A mentally broken defense attorney behind bars and his depressed brother. A sister thrown into jail right after her brother got free. And criminals who yearned for revenge and hate and _death_...

How many people out there, Apollo wondered, wanted him dead? And how many of them were safely behind bars? A shudder went down his spine. Not a pleasant thought, really.

Sebastian looked at him weirdly and he realized that he had not said anything for at least three minutes. „Apollo? Are you... are you feeling okay?"

„Don't worry. I'm fine." Fine enough, at least. Finer than he had any right to be.

„Sebastian, kindly come over here for a moment, yes?"

Edgeworth, Franziska and Mr. Wright were all gathered around the phone now. „Please inform Detective Gumshoe about what you experienced. We'd rather not miss any details."

„Yes, of course..."

Sebastian headed over and took the phone. „Detective? Yes, I..."

Athena touched Apollo's arm from behind and he spun around, nearly whacking her in the chest. „Hey!"

„I'm sorry", she mumbled. „Is he all right? He doesn't feel... his emotions are a _mess_ right now. Can't get through them, they're like a... like a bunch of tangled wool if that makes any sense? He's faking all these emotions as to avoid worrying us and those fake feelings clump around his real ones and it makes them _impossible_ to read. All I know is that he's not nearly as fine as he lets on."

Apollo frowned. „Thinking about putting him through Mood Matrix?"

„That wouldn't help. The Mood Matrix only helps you figure out what's causing your problem. He already knows that. But I'd still like to talk to him later, a small dose of therapy might help. Besides, it'll distract me from, you know..."

Of course. Blackquill.

Apollo remembered how he'd felt when Klavier had been hospitalized and unconcious. Of course Athena had a better grip on her emotions, due to also having a better understanding of them. And Blackquill's life was not in danger. But still, still...

He gave the most forced smile of his life and grinned at her. „Hey, if you think it'll help, sure! But really, I think he's feeling much better than you think."

She tilted her head, questioning him. „How would you... oh! Your bracelet?"

„Yeah, exactly. He's crying, sure, but so far there haven't been any nervous twitches. Not a single one."

He knew what was wrong the very second he said it, heard the echo of his own voice and realized, with a flash, that he'd been overlooking something _big_.

„Not a single one? With _SEBASTIAN_?!"


	26. Chapter 26

January 27, 11:46 AM

Dye-Young Hospital

Room 10

x

„**What game are you playing?!**", Apollo yelled and Sebastian took a ste... no, not Sebastian,_ the Phantom_ took a step backwards.

„A... Apollo, what are you..."

„Stop with the lies you... you..." Words. So many of them, so few that expressed the things he wanted to express. That _lying cheating vile disgusting pathetic little_...

„You are _not_ Sebastian! What have you done to him?!"

For a moment, time froze. They kept eye contact, neither of them moving a muscle. Then Edgeworth made a motion to get up and shattered the illusion. Time continued and tore them away like a ravenous river. With a single fluid move, the Phantom turned, pushed Mr. Wright aside, dodged Franziska's whip and threw open the door, disappearing into the hallway.

Ms. von Karma, at least, had - naturally - grasped the situation instantly. With her whip in hand and a silent german curse on her lips, she ran right after the fleeing criminal. As soon as she was out of the door, there was a _CRACK_ and another, less silent curse.

That was enough to set off Edgeworth. He got up at last, a little weak on his legs still, and followed his sister. That left only Apollo, Athena and Mr. Wright and two out of these three people were extremely confused.

„...What just happened?", asked Mr. Wright with the voice of someone who knows _exactly_ what happened and just refuses to belive it. Apollo could understand him very well. He chose to answer the question anyway.

„That", he said, „was the Phantom. And he just kicked our asses and ran away."

He felt like that was a pretty good description of recent events.

„Ah", mumbled Athena. „Okay then." Her voice was dull and stiff, the realisation was just setting in. „We should probably. You know. Go out there and. Do something." She made a weak gesture towards the door, her arm floppy like a fish without bones.

Then she squealed and ran outside.

Apollo decided to follow her, stepped through the door and right into a slightly demolished hallway. There he found Athena, tense and motionless, trying to figure out what path the others had taken.

„Any clue where he ran off to?", asked Apollo. Athena shrugged, but his question was answered anyway... somewhere to the left, there was the sound of something falling and breaking, a door being thrown open and then the characteristic _CRACK_ of von Karma's whip.

„That way", Athena growled and he nodded. They ran down the hallway together and only seconds later, they were joined by Mr. Wright.

Down this hallway, up the next, then left, right, straight, the noise getting closer and closer until...

A scream, another crash and then a voice: „What is the meaning of this ruckus?"

That voice was familiar, that was...

„SIMON!", screeched Athena and yes, that was Simon standing there in the hallway, blocking the Phantom's way. He was panting and looked rather silly in his hospital gown, but he was up and standing and _awake_...

Athena tackled him. A little too ferocious maybe, because he nearly fell.

„Careful, Cykes-dono, else you will send me right back to the dreamless sleep I just escaped from. If you could explain what is happening here?"

Apollo looked around. What _was_ happening here? There was Edgeworth, he'd taken his cravat off and was using it to care for a small wound on his forehead. Next to his feet laid the remains of a shattered porcellain hippo, most likely the object that had caused the wound. Ms. von Karma was faring better; she was not only not injured, but judging by the Phantom's hunched-over stance and the way he was clutching his arm, she had caused a few injuries herself. As for the Phantom himself, he was surrounded... there was nowhere to run.

„Blackquill! Do not let this man pass! That is NOT Sebastian!"

The man blinked. Then, with a growl, he grabbed the Phantom's arm. The criminal yelped and tried to break free: „Ow! S-simon! You're hurting me!"

„You bloody bet I do! What do you mean, this man is not Sebastian?!"

„I meant precisely what I said." Edgeworth stepped over the hippo and rolled his bloodstained cravat into a ball. „This is not Sebastian, but a worthless criminal in disguise. One you should be quite familiar with, in fact."

For a moment, Simon's eyebrows furrowed... and then he understood. His grip tightened and his already pale face lost the last few traces of color.

_CRACK_ did Franziska's whip go down on the trapped Phantom's back and Simon didn't even flinch while his captive screamed. Apollo growled.

If the Phantom had injured Sebastian, then he was going to regret it. Apollo would make **sure** of that.

x

January 27, 02:13 PM

Prison

Interrogation Room

x

„I have no intention to tell you anything."

The Phantom sat with his legs crossed, absentmindedly toying with the zipper of his jacket. Phoenix stood at Edgeworth's side and tried as hard as he could to stay there and look calm. It was difficult, mostly because he really wanted to walk up to the Phantom and punch him in the face. And to be honest, he didn't understand why he wasn't allowed to do exactly that.

Gumshoe had joined them, not that it had changed much. All the Detective could really do was stare at the Phantom in a vaguely intimidating way which seemed to do absolutely nothing for the fearless criminal.

The most important question right now and one which the Phantom refused to answer was, of course, whether or not the real Sebastian was still alive.

„I don't care about your intention, pal! Is he dead, _yes or no_!?"

The Phantom sighed. He was still in costume, although he'd taken his wig off, revealing a waterfall of platinum silver hair which was most definitely not real.

Then he shrugged. „Very well. Yes, he is. Happy now?

KA-CHING!

No. No, not happy at all... and yet, happy. Because the five crimson Psychelocks wrapped around the Phantom's body proved, for a fact...

Sebastian _was_ alive.

Edgeworth had reached the same conclusion, although heaven knew how. His fingers cupped around an invisible object and he leaned in as if contemplating his next move. He looked like he was playing a particulary difficult game of chess.

Apollo's hand had closed around his bracelet. Phoenix wondered how it felt for him. Trucy, she hadn't ever managed to describe the feeling she got when she was focussing, but Apollo...

SHING... beep! Athena's swift fingers brought up the Mood Matrix, glowing flashes of blue and red and green and yellow hovering in mid-air, a barely-there wall of emotions.

Simon whistled. His first order of business after leaving the hospital with them - all while the doctors and nurses had desperately tried to hold him back - had been to call Taka and now the bird crouched on his shoulder at his command, eyeing the Phantom, ready to attack.

Next to him, Franziska readied her whip.

„You", she said, „are lying." Okay, Edgeworth he could somewhat understand, but how did _SHE_ know that?! Or was that just the natural advantage of being Franziska von Karma?

The Phantom looked at her with fake surprise. „Care to enlighten me? Why would I do that? If he were alive, surely I would use him as a hostage to ensure my freedom. And yet you belive that I would choose not to do so?"

„Yes, we do indeed belive that. Perhaps you...", Edgeworth began, then stopped and bit his lip. He hadn't found a way to finish that sentence yet.

Blackquill took over in his steed. „Do you expect us to know what orders you have and have not recieved?!"

„No, Simon Blackquill, I expect you to use a little bit of common sense for once. What sort of fool would I be if I put my mission above my own life?"

„An emotionless one, I'd wager", Athena answered in Blackquill's place. „Last time I checked, your employers were the _only_ thing you were afraid of."

„Speaking of employers...", Apollo cut in, „...are they still the same? I somewhat doubt that, considering that they tried to snipe you. No, you're working for someone else now, don't you? Is your former boss still chasing you?"

Phoenix smiled. „One way or the other, you won't risk upsetting your superiors again. Common sense."

CRACK! One lock splintering into a myriad of shattered fragments. The Phantom growled. But that was only for a fragment of a second - after that, he was right back on top of things.

„Very well then. Perhaps he is alive. Like you just said, I'd rather not upset my employers. And unfortunally, giving away my hostage's location is not part of my orders."

„Well then. What are your orders, then? Based on the recent happenings, I'd assume that it's related to us prosecutors." Edgeworth crossed his arms.

„Perhaps it is. Why do you ask?"

Edgeworth probably had an answer ready, but Phoenix interrupted him. „Good question, Edgeworth. Why do you ask?"

The two of them held eye contact for a moment. Then Edgeworth groaned. „Ugh, of _course_. I assume you already know the answer? Please enlighten me, _Wright_."

A proud grin. „It's simple, really. It took you a long time to clean the prosecutor's building from corruption. All the honest, lawful prosecutors are working for you. So if someone were to kill them all..."

_CRACK_! „Objection, Phoenix Wright! Jacques Portsman was in no way honest and lawful!"

Huh. She had a point there. But Apollo cut in, saving what little was left of Phoenix dignity after all the years: „The Phantom mentioned that he came to prison for a different prosecutor. When he was disguised as Ms. Lawes, remember? Of course that might have been a lie, but perhaps... perhaps it was true and then maybe Mr. Portsman was just a test run."

There was a loud slapping noise as Gumshoe smashed his fist into his open hand: „Hah, and I bet I know who he was aiming for. You were after Godot, right? Figured we could just put him back in court if we have to."

Athena blinked. „But he's in jail for murder. You can't prosecute if you're in jail for murder!", she said.

Blackquill stared at her.

„Cykes-dono. What. Are you saying."

A few seconds as Athena mentally backtracked through her sentence. Then, somehow, she managed to turn both incredible pale and incredibly red. „Ah, well... a-anyway, that's what you wanted, right? To start a second Dark Age of the Law."

CRACK! The second lock shattered and Phoenix had to supress a shudder. So if it hadn't been for Godot's injury getting the better of him, he would have...

Ugh.

The Phantom was smiling, but the Mood Matrix registered no joy. „Not bad. You are a better detective than I was, Detective Gumshoe."

„That's pretty easy, pal!"

Franziska stepped forward, strenght radiating from her. „In that case, your superiors would be a large crime syndicate, focussed on this area. Perhaps they even work in court. It would not surprise me if there were a few corrupt attorneys and lawyers among them." _CRACK_! „Do you deny this?"

„I am neither denying nor confirming anything."

For a moment, Franziska raised her whip, ready to strike like a cobra. Then she smiled.

„Well, whoever they are, they must be rather... angry. After all, you have failed."

She started wrapping her whip around her hands, casually keeping eye contact with one of the most feared criminals in the world as she did so. „I doubt you will be rewarded by them, fool. In fact..."

_CRACK! _And then:

CRACK!

The third one down, with remarkable speed. Phoenix felt a pang of envy at that. He _never_ got them to break that fast.

Edgeworth nodded. „Very good, Franziska."

„Naturally. Now, to continue this, I can assure you that your superiours will be caught. A criminal organisation of that size does not go unnoticed. In fact, I can already think of at least two organisations who would benefit from your actions, both of them already being sought after by Interpol."

Still keeping eye contact, the Phantom showed no sign of caring. „How interesting. Are you going to arrest them?"

Blackquill scoffed. „Forget it, Karma-dono. Even you cannot hope to threaten one who doesn't fe-" _CRACK!_ And Blackquill jumped backwards as Taka screeched, barely dodging the whip, brought up his hands and sliced the air with his fingers. Franziska growled as part of her sleeve was cut by a sudden gust of wind.

„Hmpf. If you two could stop behaving like children...", Edgeworth said and Phoenix looked at him in mock surprise: „What kind of children do you hang out with?!"

„Cut it out, Wright. I'd like to remind you that you are a lawyer. Please be serious for _once_. Franziska, you were saying?"

„Thank you, Miles Edgeworth. For your information: Yes, we are indeed going to arrest them. After all, destroying an entire law system is an enourmous act. I am sure that the people responsible will have trouble dealing with it's failure."

The Phantom said nothing, but Apollo did, in a soft whisper: „His fingers are twitching!" So they were on the right path...

„We at Interpol are keeping close watch of all criminal organisations known to mankind, searching for a way to catch them. And who knows?" She smiled politely. „Perhaps the shock when their well-made plan fails will be enough to get your superiours caught. Thus making your foolish failure the first nail in their coffins."

There was a moment of silence.

Phoenix smiled.

„And I doubt they will be happy with that", he stated and knew the fourth lock was about to burst way before it did.

CRACK!

A rain of ruby-red splinters went down, leaving only one lock left.

And the Phantom shook his head.

„You are doing very well. It appears that I am truly beaten. You have defeated me and that I accept. However, that will in no way help you with saving Mr. Debeste."


	27. Chapter 27

January 27, 03:39 PM

Prison

Interrogation Room

x

„What do you mean by that?!", snapped Apollo. The Phantom didn't even bother to turn his way.

„I meant what I said. You were all so focussed on breaking those Psychelocks, you forgot what your real goal was."

CRACK! The final lock burst apart, not because of their doing but by the Phantom's own desicion. Phoenix gasped in shock and the Phantom forced a smile. „Surprised? Yes, I know about your Magatama and the tricks related to it. I had lots of time to think in prison. And as you can imagine, my previous defeat was on my mind first and foremost. I suppose I belived that I could avoid future failure if I went over my previous ones. We all know that didn't work."

„So now...", Athena asked and cut herself off as the Phantom glanced over to her.

„Now it's you who have failed. You have sucessfully proved to me that I will die. Yes, I will. If I allow you to throw me into prison again, I will be executed, which I suppose is reasonable. If I escape, however, I will most definitely be slaughtered, be it by my previous superiours or my current ones. Do you realize what that means?"

„Means that you're done for, pal!"

„Yes. That too. But it also means... that there is nothing left for me. There is nothing you can offer me and nothing you can threaten me with. And therefore, nothing to make me talk. I've made a desicion."

He leaned back into his seat and closed his eyes.

„I will not say a single word about Mr. Debeste's location. It has been one and a half day since I gave him any water, so he will not last much longer. Feel free to search for him if you wish. I, for one, hereby exercise my right to remain silent."

With that he stopped speaking. Even multible attempts from Detective Gumshoe, a rain of whiplashes from Franziska and Taka's sharp claws didn't get another word from him.

Edgeworth stood straight. He looked perfectly calm and stern and if it hadn't been for the soft squeeze of the bracelet, Apollo wouldn't have noticed the prosecutor's quivering hands at all.

„Gumshoe. I want you to fetch as many police officers and detectives as possible. Search the entire city. I demand that every nook and cranny be checked. Find Sebastian."

„Yes, Sir. Asking permission to fetch a forensic scientist as well, just in case."

„Permission granted."

„I will help as well", whispered Franziska. Apollo had never heard her be this quiet before. „Some of Shi-Long Lang's men are in the area. I will call them all in to aid us."

Phoenix coughed. „I'll join you as well. The Magatama might be of use. Oh, and I'll alert Ms. Lawes."

A nod. „Thank you, Wright. It's appreciated."

Blackquill raised his arm and Taka dug his claws into his shoulder. „This warrior is in no shape to fight yet, I'm afraid", he growled, „but my bosom buzzard will be more than glad to help you." He brushed the bird's feather and Taka rubbed up against him. „Hear me, Taka? I want you to find Sebastian-dono for me."

The hawk screeched happily and rose to the air, only to land on Franziska's shoulder and instantly peck at her ear rings. She shushed the bird.

„What about you two?", Phoenix asked and quickly added: „We have enough people, so you don't have to..."

Athena interrupted him: „We'll stay back and brainstorm. Me and Blackquill know the Phantom rather well. Perhaps we can figure something out. Apollo, are you in?"

Apollo pondered a moment. On one hand, he wanted to help Sebastian and sitting back while the others searched sounded horrible. On the other hand, the city was big and had plenty of hidden areas. Chances were that even a hoard of police officers wouldn't find anything and in that case, trying to narrow things down was probably more helpful than anything else they could do.

„I... yes. We could get Klavier in on it, too."

„Excellent. We have not time to lose, then."

Apollo motioned to Athena and Blackquill to follow him. They left the room, followed by the others.

Gumshoe hit the light switch on his way out and darkness filled the room. The Phantom stayed silent.

x

January 27, 04:05 PM

Apollo's House

Front Yard

x

The mood was rather depressed when they arrived at Apollo's house. There, Apollo checked his pockets to find that he had dropped his keys at some point and unlike a certain rockstar, he didn't have a spare hidden nearby. Thus, if it hadn't been for Klavier, he would have been locked out for good. But instead he just rang the doorbell.

Klavier opened the door. He was wearing his guitar pyjamas again or maybe still and smiled cheerfully. Next to Apollo, Athena shuddered.

„Ah, Herr Forehead. You look less than happy if I may say so, what ha... oh!"

And he pushed Apollo aside to pull Blackquill into the most incredibly awkward hug Apollo had ever seen and he had seen Gumshoe hug Edgeworth. Blackquill basically froze as the smaller man wrapped his arms around him and he _stayed_ frozen until Klavier let go of him - in other words, a solid two minutes.

„Blackquill, such a pleasure to see you standing up again! How are you?!"

„Miserable", mumbled Blackquill, shoved Klavier out of his way and stepped inside. Athena gave the confused prosecutor a gentle pat on the arm before following him.

Apollo took him by the hand and led him into the living room, where Athena was pulling a chair out for Blackquill. As soon as he sat down, Mikeko jumped up into his lap and purred against his chest. He looked hilariously uncomfortable with that.

„Come have a seat, Klavier", Apollo said glumly, „we've got a lot to tell you..."

Amazingly enough, Klavier didn't interrupt even once. He sat in silence, eyes growing wide as Apollo explained the situation to him, with Athena and Blackquill cutting in to add details. He explained the Phantom's trickery, the attempt at breaking the Psychelocks and, of course, the result of it all.

Klavier stared at him or rather, through him.

Then he got up.

„I'll get you something to drink", he announced and left the room without another word.

„Uh", Apollo began and Blackquill cut him off: „Leave him, Justice-dono. He knows what he is doing. And remove this...", a moment of vague gesticulating, „...this... feline from my lap. It is shedding on my coat."

„Come here, kitty", Athena called and pulled the cat onto her own lap. „So. Let's focus on the important parts, now. We have to find..."

She didn't finish the sentence.

„It must be a hidden place. Kept safe from the spying eye of the law."

„Kept safe from everybody. A place that is unlikely to be visited by anyone."

„He knows how the police works. We need to think out of the box."

Klavier returned, balancing a jug of water and four glasses. He poured a glass for everyone and Apollo took his with a short: „Thank you."

„Bitte schön", Klavier answered and took several documents off the table to make room for the jug. They didn't look familiar to Apollo - probably some of the paperwork Klavier had been doing for Edgeworth.

„We found the fake Sebastian in an old warehouse. But that was a fake. So..."

„So we cannot hope to use that as evidence."

„He's unlikely to use something like that again."

„Hm. Unless, of course, he's using reverse psychology", Athena suggested. Blackquill raised a brow.

„...Interesting idea, Cykes-dono. Do you consider that likely?"

Apollo shook his head. „No, no, that can't be. Too obvious. There's an entire police force outside searching through the whole city. You seriously think they'd ignore something as easy to check as warehouses?"

„Ugh, you're right."

„Ah, but we mustn't forget the rather unique mind of this particular criminal. He does not fear detection..."

„Still wants to get his job done, though."

Apollo took a sip from his glass and felt the cold liquid clear his foggy head. It was a little sour. Klavier must have taken the time to mix in some lemon juice.

„We need to try a different angle. Let's turn our way of thinking around", he stated. „If you were searching for a kidnapping victim, where would you _not_ search?"

„Ooh, good point. I suppose that would be a public place, then."

„...public place..."

That had been Klavier. He was still looking down at the document he'd picked up. Then he slowly raised his head. „Can I... I am just... thinking out loud, okay? The Phantom - please forgive me for bringing it up, Herr Blackquill - the Phantom hid as a detective for a very long time, ja?"

Blackquill clenched his fists as tightly as he could, his fingernails digging deep into his callused palm. „...yes."

„And during this case right now, he has disguised as Ms. Lawes, who was in direct contact with Mr. Wright and as Mr. Sebastian, who is well-known to all of us. He could have choosen a simple pedestrian, but instead... Achtung, maybe it is just me, but I feel like he has a tendency to hide right under our noses."

That was true. It felt like mockery, but the Phantom didn't seem like the sort of person to get joy out of embarrassing others - mostly because joy as a whole was a rather difficult concept without emotions. A Coincidence, then? Or perhaps...

„Perhaps...", he heard himself say, „perhaps that is just his tactic. It worked well in the past. I mean, nobody is likely to suspect the people close to themselves. Even we don't do it, and we..."

He fell silent, knowing that there were names coursing through the heads of everyone in the room. He himself was thinking of Kristoph, of course, the man who had mentored and betrayed him. Klavier was thinking of Kristoph as well, he was sure of that - of the brother he'd loved and trusted. And of Daryan Crescend, friend, bandmate and murderer. Blackquill was plagued with thoughts of Fulbright. And Athena? Had yet to be betrayed, but had seen her fair share of broken hearts and broken minds, all of them burning through her body as she read emotions like an open book.

„So..."

Athena was the first one to speak again, her voice dull and hollow as she tried to shake off the dark thoughts. His bracelet was tight enough to cut off his blood supply and he rubbed against it. „You think that Sebastian is hidden in plain sight, then? Right in front of us?"

Klavier coughed. „Well... it's just a hunch, really. Just thinking out loud. But, I do belive I have found a place which no one - not a single person in this city, to be honest - would bother to check. It is right under our nose, yet completely inaccessible. It is in an area unlikely to be suspected by anyone involved. And it has existed long enough for the Phantom to know about it, yet not long enough to become common knowledge."

He held out one of his documents.

Apollo took it, skimmed over it. Then, after a moment, he turned it around and held it out to Athena and Blackquill.

„...Gavin-dono. You can't be serious."

Klavier bit his cheek. „Just an idea. I-"

„This is brilliant!"

Athena clapped her hands together, the sudden noise causing the cat to hop off her lap and hide under the couch in fear. Apollo felt a pang of sympathy for his poor pet.

„We have to alert the others!", she cheered and he quickly stopped her. „No, don't. They're busy doing their own work, we shouldn't mess that up. We can have a look at this ourselves and see if we are completely wrong about this or not. Uh. If you want to."

„Count me in, Justice-dono. My blade aches for the truth."

„I agree, Herr Forehead. I've hardly done anything so far and if I can help, I will."

„I will help too, Apollo. If you think it's worth a try, I'll try it with you."

Which included an unspoken question: _Do you think it's worth a try_?

He swallowed, hard. There was a bump in his throat which refused to go away.

„It's worth a try. We will be fine. We have to be."


	28. Chapter 28

January 27, 04:59 PM

Prosecutor's Building

Hallway

x

„Which floor is it on?"

„Ah... all the way to the top, I fear. Floor twelve."

Blackquill shook his head as he headed for the stairs, long black ponytail bouncing. „I have cursed this infernal machine's failure every day for several weeks and yet I hardly bothered to pay any attention to it. To think that it might be the container of our troubles..."

The broken elevator in the Prosecutor's building.

Normally, Apollo hated stairs with a passion. Today, however, he took two stairs at once, hurrying upstairs as fast as he could. Which only made it more bitter when he was easily passed by both Blackquill and Klavier, who took these stairs every day and Athena, who ran for _fun_, madwoman that she was.

When they finally arrived at the twelfth floor Athena was hardly even bothered, Blackquill was panting a little, Klavier was leaning against the wall in exhaustion and Apollo felt like he was about to die.

He was hunched over, gasped for air with his lungs about to burst. There, just a few steps away...

The doors to the elevator were closed tightly, glinting in the sharp light of the lamps. Athena stepped up to them, pressed her hand against the metal.

And jumped backwards as if she'd been burned.

„ATHENA!", Blackquill yelled, grabbing her to yank her away from the door in shock. „What happened?! Are you injured?!" Checking her from head to toes, trying to see if something was wrong. Apollo couldn't see, was she hurt?! But no, she just looked... shocked, shaken. Surprised.

And her voice sounded shocked, shaken, surprised as well. It was stammering, stuttering, plenty of other words which all started with S.

„That... I... Apollo! Can't you... behind that door! Fear and sadness, I can _feel_ it! I know it's there!"

That did it. Like a river breaking the dam that had been holding it back, he tossed his exhaustion aside and slammed his fist against the door, punched the metal. For a moment, nothing happened.

Then his bracelet tightened with a sudden strenght, almost making him scream!

„Aagh!"

For a moment, he wrestled with it until it slipped off his wrist, clattering against the floor. He picked it up, back cracking, and struggled to pocket it. His fingers refused to obey him.

„We need to... to get that thing open!", he croaked, pointing at the elevator as if it wasn't incredibly obvious what he was talking about, as if there was anything else nearby that could potentially be in need of opening.

Blackquill cracked his knuckles, grabbed the edge of the door and pulled with all his strenght. After a few seconds, Klavier joined him.

Luckily, the elevator was rather old. Had it been newer, even the combined force of the two prosecutors would have done absolutely nothing against the locking mechanism. But it was ancient - surprising actually, that Edgeworth accepted an old elevator in the building - older meant more prone to failure, which was exactly why it was broken.

Right now, though, the elevator's age was to their benefit. With a soft hum, the doors slid open.

Inside, there was a bucket with a rag, a stained tool box, several bottles of oil and cleaner... and a crate. It was wooden, rectangular and kept shut with two clasps. It resembled a coffin and Apollo really wished he hadn't noticed that.

It was big enough to fit a person inside.

Athena closed her fingers around the clasps and pulled. They opened with a snap, throwing her on her back with a curse.

She struggled to get up, mumbling foreign cuss words.

Pulled herself to her feet.

Raised the lid.

Apollo looked inside.

It felt like being punched in the face with a particulary soft lavender-scented crow bar.

Tied up, gagged and blindfolded, stuffed into the crate like a bag of old clothes... was Sebastian, no doubt about it.

They all moved at the same time. That should have caused a horrible crash, but somehow it didn't. Blackquill grabbed Sebastian and picked him up, moving to carry him outside. Athena started fiddling with the knot of the tight ropes holding him in place. Klavier leaned in to remove the gag.

And Apollo took off the blindfold.

Sebastian didn't move when Blackquill placed him down on the ground and he didn't speak, either. Athena kneeled down at his side, pressed a hand against his throat.

„Pulse looks good, breathing normally. He's just tired."

Apollo didn't hear a word. Couldn't hear a word over the fireworks going off in his head, in his skull because _they'd done it, they'd found him, he was FINE and it was real this time, no more trickery and fake-out and lying..._

„Here, Herr Erster, have a sip..."

Klavier had miracled a bottle of water out of thin air, Apollo had no idea where the prosecutor had gotten it but he had gotten in from somewhere and was now bending down to sprinkle a few drops on Sebastian's lips. At first, it had no effect. Then Sebastian moved, licked the droplets off and allowed Klavier to place the bottle at his lips.

„There you go... nice and slow... small sips for now, ja? Very good..."

Sebastian whimpered weakly, but he did as he was told, especially once Apollo came over to support his head. In the background, Athena was busy dialing up Mr. Wright.

„You'll be alright now, ja? We've got you, you're safe, you're going to be okay. Keep drinking, you'll feel better soon..."

Klavier's gentle voice, encouraging the weakened prosecutor while giving him water. Apollo smiled down at Sebastian, who had at long last managed to open his eyes, blinking slowly. Already there was the first sign of tears showing in his eyes.

„You're going to be just fine, Sebastian", he said, carefully pulling the prosecutor into a hug. „Just fine. You'll see."

x

January 27, 05:19 PM

Vitamin Square

x

„Do you truly think he would be foolish enough for this?"

It was weird, Phoenix thought, to hear doubt in the voice of Franziska von Karma. Then again, she was doubting _him_ and that was very much normal, thanks a lot.

They had come to Vitamin Square at his suggestion, accompanied by Ms. Lawes and group of police officers and detectives under the command of Gumshoe.

„He might be using reverse psychology", he offered and casually stepped aside, just in case. But Franziska merely rolled her eyes. False alarm, she wasn't going to whip him. Yet.

„Phoenix Wright, I wish to inform you that I want nothing more than to beat you into a heap of fool's tears for even suggesting such a foolishly foolish thing... but fact is that your foolish antics have proven right in the past. That is most regretful, but it cannot be changed."

He wanted to give a snappy answer, but was luckily stopped when his phone started ringing.

„That's Athena! Hang on, maybe they figured something out."

He made sure to put some distance between himself and the others before he put the phone to his ear.

„Athena. Any luck so far?"

There was a maniacal giggle from the other end of the line.

„Uh..."

„We... Mr. Wright, you_ won't _belive this. but... WE FOUND HIM!"

She... no. There was no way for her to possibly mean what he thought she meant, right? Even he couldn't have that much luck.

„You... what exactly do you mean when you say that?"

„We found Sebastian, Mr. Wright! He's okay! He was in the prosecutor's building!"

_**What?!**_

He covered the phone with his hand and called out to Edgeworth, who was in the middle of giving instructions to Gumshoe. „Edgeworth, I... I need your opinion on this, come over here. I think I might have gone insane."

„I value our friendship too much to comment on that, Wright. What is it? Have they discovered a clue?"

„...Maybe. They say that they have, and I quote: 'found him'. And I might have misunderstood them, but..."

„GIVE ME THAT!"

It was insane how **loud** Edgeworth could be if he wanted to and it was insane how **strong** Edgeworth was at times. Loud and strong enough, at least, to push Phoenix straight down to the floor as he snatched the phone from his hands and yelled into it: „YOU FOUND HIM?!"

For a moment, the prosecutor listened. Behind them, Gumshoe, Franziska and Ms. Lawes closed in, curious about what was happening.

„C-can I talk to him?!", asked Edgeworth and then there was silence again as he listened.

When he spoke again, there was a wet glint in his eyes.

„We... we can call the search off. Sebastian is safe."

„What?! Miles Edgeworth, explain yourself at once!"

„Sir, what do you mean? That doesn't even make sense!"

„We must make our way to the prosecutor's building. I will explain everything as we go."

But actually it was Phoenix who explained most things, with Edgeworth forgetting his intentions almost instantly after hanging up. He ran, actually ran, the entire way from the park to the building, where he proceeded to run up the stairs. Franziska followed almost as quick, safe for a small break when she took off her high heels and continued in socks, carrying her shoes in one hand as she caught up to her brother again. Phoenix, Ms. Lawes and Gumshoe trailed behind, not even close to matching the speed of the two prosecutors. By the time they stepped into the building, Edgeworth and Franziska were already out of sight.

It took them several minutes to reach the twelfth floor and once they arrived, the hallway was completely empty. It was Gumshoe who suggested checking Edgeworth's office.

And thus Phoenix found himself standing in the doorway, watching on as Edgeworth embraced his protege.

It had, he decided, been worth the trouble.


	29. Chapter 29

Oh. My. God. Guys, I cannot belive this is done. And you would not belive how many different versions of this story I made. In the first version, it was Edgeworth who got kidnapped at the end and Ms. Lawes really was the true criminal. There was also a version which featured Kristoph as a main character which unfortunally didn't work out in the end - there's plenty of stuff I wanted to put in here but didn't get to.

But hey - not like I won't get a chance to use all these leftover ideas in... the next sequel! Some of you already know this, but this series is meant to have four parts in total, so stay prepared for the third part!

I'd like to thank you all for reading and commenting this story. I really love it when people start making theories about what will happen or voice their opinion on how I treat the characters. There's few things better in life than seeing how people react to the things I made and I'm so grateful I got to experience that with you. Please enjoy this epilouge!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

January 28, 08:09 AM

Prison

Dining Hall

x

„...ând thùs my nâmé wâs cléâréd. Wéll, from thé mùrdér chârgés, ât léâst. I féâr my forgérîés shâll contînùé to hâùnt mé."

Arco smiled to the best of his ability. He had asked Mr. Monet about his current situation mostly out of politeness and was slowly staring to regret it. He couldn't understand a single word.

„It's good to know that you will be all right", he said. That was not a lie. He wasn't necessarily fond of the artist, but it was still nice not to see him framed for murder.

„Thé sâmé to yoù, my frîénd. Âh, ând whât a shock ît wâs, stândîng în thé coùrtroom âs théy félléd théîr fâlsé vérdict..."

„You missed an 'i' there."

„Whât?"

He shook his head. „Nothing. But I agree. Being blamed for a crime you didn't commit is...", a shudder, „...definitely not enjoyable."

Mister Monet nodded, petting his pet mouse. Then he suddenly leaned in and whispered, dropping his accent: „You know, I saw them lead that dastardly Phantom through here earlier. Didn't seem bothered by it at all. Freaky creep..."

Now that was interesting... „Really?"

„Yes, I did! I but hope they will keep him locked up tighter this time."

„Yes, I ag..."

He was interrupted by the dining bell.

„Ah. Well, I suppose we should return to our cells now."

„Jùst âs wéll. Î sîmply _âché_ to pùt thîs dréâdfùl éxpérîéncé on cânvâs..."

Deep beneath them, chained up in a small cell, a world-famous criminal had absolutely zero problems with the whole scenario.

Oh, sure, he'd been locked up. But that had happened before, plenty of times in fact, and he'd always gotten out. Of course, there were probably several very angry people waiting outside with some very final plans regarding his existence and the end of it... but that, too, was not unusual. And even if it all failed...

Death was probably very interesting. He was curious about it as well.

How fitting, though, that yet again, he had been beaten by the same group of people, especially the stubborn prosecutor and his darling little girl...

x

January 28, 09:01 AM

Prosecutor's Building

Blackquill's office.

x

„Thank you for your help, Cykes-dono. It's a bloody mess around here."

„No problem", she answered as she punched holes into a thick stack of documents. „Mr. Wright never does his paperwork, either, so I've got experience."

Blackquill nodded, putting yet another signature down. „I am quite experienced with this as well, normally. But the sheer flood of it is too much for even the strongest of men. After all, the only one of us who was at all capable of doing paperwork during these past dark few days was Gavin-dono."

„He's done well, though. So far, everything he's done seems to be in order."

A barking laugh. „He has plenty of unexpected talents, our dear shining star. Fetch me the autopsy file, Taka."

The bird took to the air with a screech, circled the room for a moment and dove down to snatch up a bright blue file.

„Good bird. Here you go."

He held out a piece of jerky and Athena snickered. „Did you check that for poison?"

„...Do not even joke about that, Cykes. Knowing that my dear companion was in danger was worse than the sting of Atroquinine in my stomach."

She winced, sobering up instantly.

„Right. Sorry. How are you holding up?"

„Well enough, considering the circumstances. Hand me the red pen, yes? Thank you. I still can't eat properly. Which is not all that bad, as the doctors have forbidden it anyway. No solid food for three more days, they say. Ugh. I'd sell my soul for a bowl of Soba."

„Please don't. That's unhealthy."

Her phone beeped. She gave it a quick glance, ready to ignore the call.

And froze.

Anonymous Caller. Could be a scam, could be a wrong number. Could be a certain assassin.

„I've got to take this. Hang on", she stammered and_ great, way to be suspicious, Athena_. Even worse, she took the hole punch with her as she stepped into the hallway. Hopefully Blackquill wouldn't follow her to get it, else he'd potentially walk into a very interesting dialouge...

„Athena Cykes here?", she answered the call. For a few moments, everything was quiet. Then the voice of Shelly de Killer sounded, slightly distorted.

„Excellent job, if I may say so. I could not have done it better."

„Uhm... t-thanks?"

„No need for niceties. You have done me quite the favour. This so-called Phantom is a disgrace to my line of business."

„I-is he?"

„Most obviously. The man has no standards. I ask you, how is a good, honest assassin like me meant to keep a proper image with men like him around?" A silent sigh, almost impossible to hear „I suppose it hardly matters now. I am very grateful, Ms. Cykes. Now, normally I would only do this for a client. You are not a client, although I would not be opposed to that, but I am willing to extend my trust to you. Sharing this information with the police would be unwise, as I am sure you are aware of."

Her heartbeat was pounding. This could go very, very badly for her... but so could refusing it. Refusing the trust of Shelly de Killer? Perhaps even implying that said trust was... questionable?

Oh, hell no. She'd rather stick her leg in a meat grinder.

„I won't share it."

„Good. I will give you a phone number. Use this to contact me, should the need arise. In turn, please know that I, too, will contact you if I am in need of assistance. Of course I do not expect you to aid me in illegal business. No fear, Ms. Cykes."

She nodded, which was a rather dumb thing to do on the phone - but it wasn't needed anyway. In awe, she listened as he dictated a string of numbers.

„There. That should be the first step to a mutually beneficial connection. I trust you will use it with care. Greet Mr. Wright from me."

_Click_.

Ended the call and left her standing there in the hallway, with a heartbeat strong enough to register on the Richter scale and nothing to do but go back to Blackquill.

The prosecuter gave her a grin when she opened the door.

„You kidnapped my hole punch, Cykes-dono. Was that call truly so important?"

„Just Juniper", she lied, knowing fully well that Blackquill would see right through her. „She can't find her passport and was asking if I knew something about it."

He looked at her, straight into her eyes. She felt his _**doubt**_ and, on a weaker level, his _**amusement**_ at such an obvious lie.

„...Tell her to fill out a lost item report."

Athena blinked. „That reminds me", she changed the topic as quickly as she could, „did Sebastian ever get his wallet back?"

x

January 28, 09:28 AM

Apollo's house

Living Room

x

Apollo felt incredibly soft and warm inside, incredibly _good_ for some reason. There was something very comforting about having Klavier and Sebastian around at the same time, both of them safe and sound. Sebastian was cradling his baton, his twitches tightening Apollo's bracelet just the way they should. Klavier had leaned back, wearing proper clothing for the first time ever since his house had burned down. An issue which, if his words were anything to go by, was about to be solved.

„Really, the insurance payment is more than enough to rebuild. The walls are mostly okay. I need new doors and windows and, well, furniture. But it should all work out. After all, I'm not exactly short on cash."

Sebastian coughed. „Say, Klavier?"

„What is it, Herr Erster?"

„I'm still a bit... out of the loop", and he smiled apologetically. „Did the judge have anything to say regarding your, uh... o-outburst in court?"

Oh yes, that...

Apollo had forgotten all about that and felt a sharp pang in his chest. That would be a rough ending to it, if Klavier were to lose his job after all. The courtroom would feel rather empty without his favourite rival inside it...

He gave Klavier a questioning look and suspected that it looked quite a bit like he was making puppy dog eyes.

„Oh please, Herr Forehead, no need for this pleading expression. The judge has let me off the hook, so to speak. He said that...", and he leaned back, staring up at the ceiling as he spoke, „...while he does not endorse swearing, no matter the laguage, he understands that I was under a lot of pressure at that moment and is willing to let it slide, provided that it does not happen again."

Apollo dared to breathe again.

„That was nice of him", Sebastian stated absentmindetly, twisting the baton around his fingers. „You should send him a fruit basket or something."

„Perhaps I will. Oh, Herr Forehead. I have a present for you. Or rather, I'd like for you to keep something away from me."

Keep something away from Klavier? „What is it?"

„I do sincerily hope that I shan't need it anymore. If I ever ask for you to give it back... well, I suppose it would be best for everyone if you refused, ja?"

Reached out and pressed a smooth, weirdly-shaped object into Apollo's hand. The defense attorney peeked at it.

A bottle of Ariadoney clear nail polish.

„Klavier..."

„I hope that I won't have to use this again. I... I want to quit. My life's hard enough without nonsense like this." He chuckled, rolling his eyes. „Besides, what sort of cliched story is that? The rockstar ends his career and gets addicted to drugs? I like to think that I'm more unique than that."

The bottle was cold against Apollo's palm. He closed his hand around it and, unsure of what to say, said: „You know, you can stay here until your house is rebuild."

There was, perhaps, if one had the perception necessary to see it... a faint blush on Klavier's face.

„_Danke_, Apollo. I owe you one. Well, several, to be honest."

For a moment, Apollo hesitated. Then he thought back to the past few days, thought back to the case before that.

Ah, why not...

He took Klavier's hand and the prosecutor allowed it.

And Apollo spared a glance at Sebastian. He looked fine, perfectly happy, not a tear in sight. He'd hoped this would happen - that he'd forget his experiences over a cup of tea and a small chat or would at least be able to deal with them. So far... a full success.

„Mr. Edgeworth will be very glad to hear that you're stopping.", he said and if he had noticed their entwined fingers, he wasn't showing it. „He was upset about your addiction."

„I know. He gave me the adress of a therapist which I, ah, have not actually visited yet. Perhaps I should."

Apollo and Sebastian nodded simultainously. „You should."

„Achtung, baby, that's what I call a clear order. I will, don't worry, ja? Mr. Edgeworth was very sure she'd help me. And..."

He took a deep breath. His hand tightened around Apollo's and Apollo felt a rush of warmth.

„I do need help."

X

January 28, 10:18 AM

Prosecutor's Building

Franziska's Office.

X

„You kept it?"

Edgeworth eyed the little music box like it was just about ready to explode. He tapped it gently. Nothing happened.

„Do you still have the key?"

„Of course I do, Miles Edgeworth. What sort of fool displays a broken music box on her desk? It's in a box on the windowsill."

He nodded and tried to pretend that he was walking towards the window by complete accident. The box there was small and filled with different keys. He knew - if only because Franziska had told him - that most of these keys no longer had a use. He'd never dared to ask why she bothered to keep them.

In there, he found a small silver wind-up key. He turned it, checking it from all sides.

„Looks like new."

„I take good care of my belongings."

Franziska was sitting at her laptop, typing vigorously. She barely spared him a glance when he took the music box and wound it up.

Music filled the room, a simple, melodious tune that calmed them both down. Franziska slowed down, slower, slower still, stopped typing.

„Papa was so upset about it", she mumbled. „That you would dare to gift me something so useless."

„He looked just about ready to put me in the next train away from Germany and pretend that I never existed. He ordered you to throw it away", Edgeworth reminded her, „but you didn't. You hid it under your bed and every time he went away, we'd take it out and play it."

„Ah, yes. We felt so very rebellious every time, like it was on par with stealing his credit card. Sitting there huddled up together listening to this, this... _box_."

The melody kept playing as they both listened. Edgeworth couldn't bear to look her in the eyes. His expression was pained, vulnerable. „Franziska..."

„You know, Papa would be very upset about this as well. The two of us working together like this. He always tried to make us into rivals."

She crossed her arms. The music box became silent and as if in trance, Franziska reached out to wind it up again. „What was the next present you gave me?"

„A notepad. He didn't mind that."

„Hm. Can't remember ever using it."

He shrugged. „No wonder. You were only five." A pause. „Franziska?"

„Yes?"

Okay. Here went nothing. He had a hard enough time saying things like this to people he was open with, which included Phoenix, Gumshoe and maybe Sebastian, sometimes. And literally nobody else. Trucy, perhaps. But this was his sister. And this was hard.

„I... am glad you did not get hurt. I was worried about you and when he shot you, I... was worried even more."

A disaster put into words because the chief prosecutor, for all his logic and education, could not express feelings in a way that was even remotely satisfactory. „I don't... I felt like that needed to be said."

Franziska resumed typing.

No answer came and Edgeworth felt the need to slam his head against the nearest flat surface, preferably a hard one. Then, her nimble fingers stopped for a moment.

„I am also glad that your injuries were not fatal. Or permanent, for that matter."

It shouldn't be so hard to say something as obvious and clear-cut as_ I'm glad you didn't die_, but...

„I..."

Oh?

„I was... intending to return to Germany in a few months, as you are no doubt aware. However, I feel like my presence here is... needed. There is still a lack of prosecutors which must be dealt with and Interpol has plenty of jobs which I can do while I am here. I will therefore stay a while. Perhaps a few... years. And settle down a little." Another typing pause. „If that does not cause trouble for you."

He felt himself smile, involuntarily, sincerely. „I would be more than happy if you stayed. I desperately need people I can trust."

„I will inform Lang, then", she stated and resumed typing. „Did I tell you that Phoenix Wright had a talk with him? It left a rather... unique impression."

„Oh no."

„Yes. You may be forced to answer a high amount of questions the next time you meet him."

Typing again. Edgeworth watched her, eyes half closed. He knew that he looked more relaxed than usual, but the same went for her. She sat upright, but not as stiff as normally. Her typing was quick and concentrated, but she paused every once in a while, sidetracked. And it was only now that he realized that she wasn't even carrying her whip. He spied it in her handbag, way out of her reach.

People he could trust... Franziska, he knew, could be trusted. Phoenix could be trusted. Apollo, Athena could be trusted. Gumshoe and Ema could be trusted. Sebastian, Blackquill, Klavier, they could be trusted. Heck, even Larry could be trusted on a good day.

It was, he thought, a very nice situation to be in.

x

January 28, 10:27 AM

Seabreeze Cafe

x

„Oh, Ms. Hart! What a surprise to see you here!"

It was the small cafe near the courtroom, where Sebastian had taken them a few days ago. Ms. Andrews had enjoyed the atmosphere and had decided to return. Apparently, she wasn't the only one.

„Oi there, ain't that a coincidence. Grab yerself a chair and come up here!"

She obeyed, picking a chair from an empty table as to not inconvenience anyone and sat down with Ms. Hart. „How are you doing?"

„Aw, ya know. Been checking me pictures. Me latest article was real good! And now that this here case is all over, I'm gonna get me another scoop!"

She grinned like a cheshire cat and held up her camera as if to confirm that yes, she was still a photographer. „Say, are ya up fer a interview later? Seein' how ye're a witness and all that?"

„Oh, sure. It's my day off today."

„Sweet! Say, how come ye're workin' at that there car rental anyway? Last time I saw ya, ya were a celibrity business manager, weren't ya?"

A waitress appeared and they ordered a glass of iced tea for Lotta and a coffee for Adrian.

„That was a while ago. I quit that after Mr. Engarde was declared guilty. Did you hear about his death?"

„Ay, who didn't. Pretty brutal way to go."

„Not brutal enough", she said and meant it with all her heart. „After that I started working as a director at Lordly Tailor. I was in charge of the exhibition halls. But - I am sure you have heard about this as well - the Sacred Urn of Ami Fey was stolen shortly after. My boss let it slide, but a short while ago, a statue called the Golden Girl was stolen as well. And since it was the second time something of value was stolen under my watch..."

Their drinks arrived and she silenced herself with caffeine.

„Sorry to hear it."

„No, it's all right. I wasn't really happy there, anyway. Since then I've been working at Motorental as a secretary, but honestly, that... that isn't really my calling either. I must admit, I am a bit at a loss of what to do..."

„Aw, don'tya worry, ya'll find something nice eventually."

„Thank you. What about you? Back when I last saw you, you were concentrating on celibrity gossip. I'd assume that is still the case? Mr. Gavin seemed very angry at you."

Lotta managed to stifle a laugh without spitting iced tea all over the table. „Yeah, I kinda done broke into his dressing room, ya know? Got some nice pictures of him with his..."

„...Ms. Hart, surely you do not mean to imply that you..."

A moment of silence. Then, a moment of understanding. Then, a moment of being very, very loud.

„OI, what kinda sick freak do ya take me for?! Me's a scoop hunter and no no-good peepin' tom! I got me some nice pictures of him _with_ _his hair undone. _That's all. Ain't no big deal."

„He seemed to have a different opinion."

„Aw, he was just real nervous, I reckon."

„Hey there, Ladies..."

They both glanced up to find themselves confronted with...

„I know ya! Ye're that Larry Butz guy!"

Larry waved at her. „Yeah. I was looking for you, actually. I need someone to snap some pictures for my next book so I can have a reference! Do you mind?"

„Depends. What's that book 'bout?"

He grinned. „It's glorious, you'll love it! After both Kay and Melicia refused to star in one, I was _desperate_", pulled a grimace of sheer despair, only to go straight back to being overly cheerful, „but now I found someone who doesn't mind at all! And I bet that _Ema Skye's High Way of Science_ is going to be an absolute bestseller!"

x

January 28, 10:30 AM

Police Department

Evidence Room

x

„There, that's the last piece of evidence."

„Great job, pal! We've done it!

Ema placed her hands on her hips and proudly looked at the locker. They had folded, recorded and labeled every bit of evidence and they had done it in record time.

„We sure did! Anything else you need me for?"

„Got some stuff that needs to be signed by forensics, pal. Got the time for that?"

„Yeah, of course. Hang on a moment."

He led her outside and handed her a stack of paper. „Here, you gotta sign this."

„No problem. Hey, what's that?"

That looked...

...familiar.

„Gumshoe, isn't this a copy of the inmate relocation stuff?", she asked, raising the paper up to check it against the light. „It is! And the Phantom's not on it! You had it right here all along!"

The detective blushed.

„Ah, uhm... y-you know, that... can stay between the two of us, right, pal?"

She stared at him in disbelief.

„Mr. Edgeworth is going to murder you."

x

January 28, 10:50 AM

Airport

Terminal 5

x

„Thanks for the company, Mr. Wright."

Phoenix smiled politely as he handed Ms. Lawes her suitcase. „No problem, Ms. Lawes. I really owe it to you, after all that trouble you've gone through."

She laughed and her beret fell off. Phoenix picked it up for her. „Here you go."

„Thank you, Mr. Wright. But you are right. This was not exactly a cosy vacation. I'll have to take a few days off when I get home to recover from this."

„A vacation from your vacation?"

„Quite so, yes."

She peeked around the corner to look at the nearest clock. „Excellent. I've got plenty of time left. I suppose I'd like to congratulate you."

_What for_, he thought and voiced the thought.

„For managing to be a lawyer. I have seen you legal system, albeit closer than intended, and... how on _earth_ do you ever get anything _done_?!"

What was she talking about. „Is it... different in England?", he asked and got a look of pure horror in return. Nice.

„Different?! Mr. Wright, half of what I've seen in this courtroom here would be illegal back where I am from. When I return, I will tell my friends of a world where luck and coincidence ruled the courtroom and logic was but an obstacle to be removed. And then they will laugh at me."

„Is it that different? Really?"

„Really. And please do not take this personal, Mr. Wright, but I would prefer if you never came to England. I fear that two minutes of your presence would be enough to tear our entire law system into shreds. You are the right man in the right place, Mr. Wright, and putting you anywhere else might just kickstart armageddon."

Whelp, if that wasn't a nice thing to hear. „Thank you."

„You are welcome. Do stay in contact, yes? Who knows, maybe one day I will find myself faced with a case that requires your way of thinking. Ugh, I hope not."

Wistfully, she stared into the distance and then she added, with a soft voice: „You've got a gift, Mr. Wright. Do use it."

Do use it.

Yes, he had a gift. He was the Turnabout Terror, the Devil's Advocate. He was the saviour of the lost causes. He could beat the unbeatable prosecutors and catch the uncatchable criminals. And how? Mostly just with dumb luck and the assistance of his friends, the belief in his clients innocence and also sometimes the fact that he had help from the afterlife. That _was_ a gift, true. And it seemed that he was the personal favourite of Fortuna, blessed by the forces of Luck and Law.

He couldn't wait for his next case. How... _how_... had he managed to survive without a badge? Had it been the thought of revenge, the desire to uncover the truth behind his disbarment?

No. No, that hadn't been it. He knew that now, felt it from his skin to his core. It had been... it had been...

...the desire to get his badge back, the wish to defend. That, that had kept him alive.

Alive to fight, defend and win.

He couldn't have felt better.


End file.
